SULPHUR, La. (AP) - Assembly of a new barge loading ramp in the West Calcasieu Port barge basin is expected to be completed shortly.
The Southwest Daily News reported (https://bit.ly/JYT1DN) the 80,000-pound capacity ramp in the west basin, south of Sulphur, is being paid for by a $640,000 grant from Devall Towing, the port’s longest-standing tenant.
A 700-foot hard-surface road to the new ramp will be built later this year and is funded by a $250,000 economic development grant from the Calcasieu Parish Police Jury.
Orion Marine Group, another West Calcasieu Port tenant, is the contractor for the project.
“Our aging existing barge loading ramp has experienced considerable wear and tear, including two major hurricanes, and has been showing its age,” said port director Lynn Hohensee. “The new ramp will allow us to accommodate a growing demand for the ramp services.”
Hohensee said rapidly growing oil and gas exploration in southwest Louisiana marshlands has caused oilfield services companies to increase their use of shallow-water barges.
“The oilfield service companies use our ramp to drive their large service trucks onto barges at our port,” he said, “And from there, they are moved by pushboats to locations in the marshlands where drilling activity occurs.”
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Information from: Southwest Daily News, https://www.sulphurdailynews.com
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