Dilapidated Vessels on the Columbia

The Davy Crockett is just one of many dilapidated vessels on the Columbia River. Crews are continuing to work on the cracked barge that has been abandoned about 15 miles upstream from Vancouver. The Davey Crockett was in a 'V' shape with half the hull sticking out of the water. But crews Thursday started filling the stern with water so the whole hull would rest on the river bed. The next step is for divers to be sent down to see how much more oil and PCBs remain on board. (Kristian Foden-Vencil, Davy Crockett One Of Many Dilapidated Vessels On The Columbia, OPB News, February 3, 2011.)

A photo of the vessel and reprint of the article on the bluefish.org website provides a greater appreciation of the magnitude of the project and the potential harm to the river and salmon runs.

Barge Company Rehires Workers

The Portland Business Journal reports today that work that closed the navigation locks on the Columbia and Snake rivers for several months is nearing an end, and Tidewater Barge Lines Inc. is preparing to bring back 100 employees it laid off during the closure.

The Columbian reports that the Vancouver, Wash.-based barge operator will also bring another 100 workers back to full-time status who had worked a mix of part-time and full-time hours during the locks outage.

This is good news for the Pacific Northwest maritime industry.