Barges Hit McAlpine Dam After Breakaway
No one was injured when 10 coal barges broke away from their towing vessel about 4 p.m. March 8 after locking through the McAlpine Locks and Dam, Ohio Mile 606.8.
The mv. Amber Brittany was upbound and had just exited the lock when 10 barges broke away, with eight initially coming to rest on the Louisville & Indiana (L&I) Railroad bridge and two becoming partially submerged by the lower dam gates next to the LG&E hydroelectric power plant, said Coast Guard Petty Officer Jose Hernandez, a spokesman for Coast Guard District 8.
The Coast Guard broadcast a notice to mariners in the area but did not shut down vessel traffic as there were no vessels in queue, Hernandez said. L&I inspected the bridge and reported no damage or restriction of rail traffic. The Louisville Engineer District temporarily suspended locking.
On March 9, six of the 10 barges were recovered, pushed up and out of the channel and into a fleeting area. U.S. Coast Guard Vessel Traffic Service Louisville coordinated with the McAlpine lockmaster to allow traffic in the area to resume. At that time there were four vessels downbound and two vessels upbound in the queue, Hernandez said.
Of the four remaining barges, one was sunken on the bank of the Indiana side of Shippingport Island and one near the L&I bridge, he said. Neither was in the channel, and they were not affecting traffic.
Two partially submerged barges were in the lower dam gates, but one of those flushed through about 10:30 a.m. March 12, said Abby Korfhage, a public affairs specialist for the Louisville Engineer District. It then submerged about 400 feet below the lower dam site. No damage to the dam had been reported, she said.
The other barge remained in McAlpine Dam’s gate bay.
A salvage crew arrived March 13 and immediately began working on removal of the sunken barge from the tip of Shippingport Island. Coal was being transferred from that barge to an empty one in preparation for refloating it, Hernandez said.
A plan was being formulated on how best to remove the partially sunken barge from the dam’s gate bay, Korfhage said. The locks will operate intermittently once a recovery or salvage plan is developed for the sunken barge that remains in the gate bay, she said. The Louisville District said mariners should take direction from the lock operators at McAlpine Locks and Dam as those efforts take place.
Additionally, the Coast Guard reported that the National Transportation Safety Board has joined the investigation and will provide a report separate from the Coast Guard’s report once the investigation is complete.
The mv. Amber Brittany is owned and operated by Imperial River Transport LLC of Dunlevy, Pa. The barges are owned by Crounse Corporation.
Caption for top photo: Two barges were initially in the gate bays at McAlpine Locks and Dam, Ohio Mile 606.8, following a 10-barge breakaway, as seen in this March 11 photo. One of those flushed through the gate the next day and sank about 400 feet below the site. (Photo courtesy of Louisville Engineer District)
