Oil, Coal Barges Back Up on Ohio River on Lock Damage

(Bloomberg) — Barge traffic on the Ohio River halted at the Greenup Locks along the border between Kentucky and Ohio after a 240-ton gate was damaged, stopping shipments of coal to about 30 power plants and forcing at least one refinery to slow oil-product deliveries and curtail production.

The main lock is expected to be shut from six to eight weeks and an auxiliary waterway is scheduled to open Jan. 31, said Peggy Noel, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in Huntington, West Virginia. Thirty-three power plants in nine states received coal shipments through the passageway in 2008. Marathon Oil Corp.

Catlettsburg, Kentucky, plant reduced output because barge operations were interrupted.

The closure will mean serious delays for river traffic, said Cornel Martin, president and chief executive officer for Waterways Council Inc. in Arlington, Virginia.