Good news, bad news on area dredging; Baker Hughes leaving port

The Port of Morgan City board continues to take the good with the bad as it tries to keep commercially important waterways open.
At a meeting by teleconference Wednesday, delayed for two days by Tropical Storm Cristobal, the board also heard about a couple of departures. Cmdr. Heather Mattern, who commands the Coast Guard’s Marine Safety Unit Morgan City took part in her final port board meeting before assuming a new post.
And Baker Hughes, the international energy technology company, is leaving the property it leases at the port.
The news on waterways started off on a positive note when Tim Connell of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said a $3.5 million-$3.7 million dredging project for Berwick Bay should be ready to begin in August. Funding for that work has already been secured, Connell said.
The contract for another project, dredging in the area near mile marker 142 and Crewboat Cut, is expected to be awarded this summer. The estimated cost is $16 million.
Shoaling has been a problem in that area.
“That’s where we were in very good shape,” Port Director Raymond “Mac” Wade said. “This high water is eating us up.”
The Atchafalaya at Morgan City is settling back to just above the 6.0-foot minor flood stage after an unexpectedly slight rise from Cristobal’s storm surge.
The Brice Civil Constructors Inc. dredge, designed to remove the sticky “fluff” mud that interferes with some ship propulsion systems, has been working well, Connell said. Its focus has been on the lower end of the main channel between the Gulf and Morgan City.
The average depth in the bar channel is 18 feet in some places, close to the authorized depth of 20 feet.
The news wasn’t so positive about the need for $25 million to dredge the Bayou Chene. Connell said no funding has been identified for that work.
He also offered a more general warning about federal funding for the 2020-21 fiscal year, which begins Oct. 1. COVID-19 has laid siege to the federal budget, pushing down revenue while pushing up spending. Unemployment is at post-Depression highs.
“The money is looking bad,” Connell said. “Really bad.”
Also Wednesday:
—The board heard that Baker Hughes has announced its intention to leave land it subleases at the port’s transit yard. The port leases the land from the Young Foundation and sublets tracts to companies. Baker Hughes expects to give up the property later this month or in early July.
The company has offered to pay the port in the $100,000 range.
Wade said he’d asked Baker Hughes whether there was anything that port could do to keep the company at the property.
“That answer was no,” Wade said.
The board authorized President Joseph Cain to enter a new lease if a tenant can be found.
Like other companies in energy-related fields, Baker Hughes has been hurt by the downturn in prices caused by a Saudi-Russia price war and world oil demand that has been depressed by the COVID-19 epidemic. The company’s stock price, which started the year above $25, sank to near $9 in April before rallying to $17 this week.
—The change of command ceremony at Marine Safety Unit Morgan City is being planned for June 26, when Coast Guard Lt. Cmdr. Ben Russell will take over for Mattern.
Mattern has been at the Morgan City post for three years. During that time, the unit was downsized as part of a consolidation of functions with MSU Houma, and the Coast Guard has had to deal with a hurricane, a tropical storm and severe flooding affecting local waterway navigation.
Members of the board praised Mattern for her work here.
“We’re going to miss you,” Wade said.
“It’s been a real honor to be in this community,” Mattern said.