The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Galveston District contracted with Weeks Marine Inc. for the removal of approximately 550 feet of submerged pipeline from the Houston Ship Channel which will begin today. The navigation channel is expected to remain closed until 2 a.m. on April 11.
“ Serving as the lead agency, the Corps is working diligently with the U.S. Coast Guard and Port of Houston to execute its mission of clearing the Houston Ship Channel of this navigation hazard to allow for the safe and expeditious accommodation of commercial waterborne traffic, ” said Patrick Spoor, chief of USACE Galveston District’s Safety Office . “During routine channel surveying operations, crews encountered the 36-inch submerged pipeline in approximately 50 feet of water.”
According to Spoor, a contract crew consisting of divers will be in the water throughout salvage and removal operations as well as numerous tugboats, barges, cranes and crew boats.
The Houston ship channel serves the Port of Houston, which ranks first in the nation in foreign waterborne tonnage, first in U.S. imports and second in the nation with respect to foreign and domestic tonnage.
Established in 1880 as the first engineer district in Texas to oversee river and harbor improvements, the USACE Galveston District is directly responsible for maintaining more than 1,000 miles of channel, including 270 miles of deep draft and 750 miles of shallow draft as well as the Colorado River Locks and Brazos River Floodgates.
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Dredging Today Staff, April 10, 2012;