Industrial Park Seeks To Build Barge Loading/Unloading Facility At Ohio Mile 88

The owner of an industrial park along the Ohio River plans to build a barge loading and unloading facility.

4K Industrial Park LLC applied March 31 for a Department of the Army permit to build the facility, which will receive fluids from the gas and oil markets for processing to reuse the fluids for drilling operations or to be sent to a disposal facility.

It would be built along the right descending bank of the Ohio River at Mile 88.0 in Martins Ferry, Belmont County, Ohio. The applicant proposes to secure a 195- by 35-foot spud barge approximately 25 feet off the riverbank and use it to secure tank barges alongside it for loading and offloading operations. The spud barge will be anchored with two 2- by 50-foot spuds and secured to the riverbank at each end with 20-inch deadmen chains. The total mooring width from the face of the river bank extending riverward is anticipated to be about 100 feet wide by 200 feet in length.

For safety, 4K Industrial Park LLC  proposes to place four 20-inch diameter steel pipe deadmen for barge deflection to protect the downstream marina. The steel pipes will be driven into the river bottom and placed approximately 80 feet downstream and spaced 20 feet from each other, extending riverward.

On top of the riverbank near the spudded barge, the applicant proposes to construct a 240-foot long elevated catwalk. The catwalk will support a double walled 10-inch pipe coming from the existing water storage area, located 600 feet from the waterfront. After the transiting tank barge is secured to the spudded barge, a transfer hose from the barge would be connected to the 10-inch pipe to transfer fluid to the existing water storage area.