INNER HARBOR NAVIGATION CANAL LOCK CLOSURE
CHANDELEUR SOUND ALTERNATE ROUTE
USACE will be closing the IHNC Lock for 120 days starting in early August 2016 to install new gates and updated machinery.
- To allow mariners to continue to travel to and from the East Canal, GICA, GNOBFA and AWO have been working with industry representatives, Coast Guard Sector New Orleans, USACE New Orleans District, and NOAA to establish the Chandeleur Sound Alternate Route.
- The route (west to east) will generally follow the Mississippi River to Bayou Baptiste Collette then northward in the Chandeleur Sound to the Gulfport Ship Channel and the GIWW East.
Below are links to key documents regarding the route. The SITREPS have been published via GICA email and available below:
LATEST SITREP – SITREP 8 – dated 29 July 2016
Chandeleur Sound Alternate Route Best Operating Practices – dated 29 July 2016
NOAA/NWS Weather Forecasting Tools for Alternate Route:
Entire Marine Forecasts for Southeast Louisiana and Coastal Mississippi
http://weather.noaa.gov/cgi-bin/fmtbltn.pl?file=raw/fz/fzus54.klix.cwf.lix.tx
Breton Sound
http://forecast.weather.gov/shmrn.php?mz=gmz538&syn=gmz500
Chandeleur Sound
http://forecast.weather.gov/shmrn.php?mz=gmz536&syn=gmz500
Mississippi Sound
http://forecast.weather.gov/shmrn.php?mz=gmz532&syn=gmz500
All marine warnings are alerted and broadcast on Weather Radio
Gulfport 162.400 mhz; New Orleans 162.550 mhz; Buras 162.475 mhz
Point and Click
http://forecast.weather.gov/gridpoint.php?site=lix
Select your area of interest (Breton Sound, Chandeleur Sound, or MS Sound).
USCG EIGHTH DISTRICT LNM with ATON Positions:
http://www.navcen.uscg.gov/pdf/lnms/lnm0822g2016.pdf
SCI – VOYAGE PLANNING TOOL:
SCI’s Center for Maritime Education is honored to provide the industry with a Rose Point voyage plan for the Chandeleur Sound Alternate Route. The plan was developed by Capt. David Abney (ACBL) along with our instructors CAPT. John Arenstam (Paducah) and CAPT. Dave Howell (Houston). Download the file here: SCI Voyage Planning If you have any issues importing it into Rose Point, contact Michael Nation (mnation@seamenschurch.org), or John Arenstam (jarenstam@seamenschurch.org).
GICA HAS OPENED A FACEBOOK GROUP – CHANDELEUR SOUND ALTERNATE ROUTE DISCUSSION – This Group has been established for mariners and GIWW users to discuss navigation issues on the route, provide feedback to government agency partners, and alert others to best practices and lessons learned. It is a closed group that you will have to ask to join. Please also include info on your connection to the shallow draft tow and barge industry and users of the Alternate Route. To do so, click on the link below:
Click Here to join our Facebook Group
Please direct any questions or concerns you may have about the Route to Jim Stark at GICA.
