High waters shut down coal docks on Big Sandy

Knoxville (Platts Coal Trader) 8 January 2004

High waters caused by heavy rainfall have closed the coal docks on the Big Sandy River. Sources on the river said the docks likely would stay down until the weekend. “Monday (Jan. 5) was the last day we did anything,” said one barge operator. “There is coal on the docks, but we can’t get to it. It looks like we won’t load anything until Sunday. The river still needs to fall quite a bit.”

“We haven’t loaded anything all week,” said one dock operator. “Maybe a few folks upriver did some business early in the week, but I think they’re all shut now. It will probably be Monday before we can start loading again. I expect it will take three days for the river to go down to where we can load again. It just depends on how fast the water goes down.”

Sources said water levels also were up on the Kanawha River, but not as much as the Big Sandy. “We’re still operating on the Kanawha,” the barge official said. “It’s up, but not unmanageable.” One official noted that the Ohio River was expected to crest at 53 feet at Cincinnati on Wednesday. It was over 51 feet on Tuesday. The Big Sandy docks normally load 300,000 to 400,000 tons/week.