The Great Lakes and Ohio River Division's Regional Rivers Repair Fleet

By Huntington District Public Affairs StaffAugust 21, 2017

Light Weight Fleet at the Kentucky Locks and Dam
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Heavy Weight Fleet at Meldahl Locks and Dam
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Marietta Repair Station
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As the operations and maintenance needs of our navigation infrastructure outpace funding levels, the U.S Army Corps of Engineers needs to ensure that our limited resources, personnel and funds are applied to actions that minimize the greatest risk of failure and yield the greatest benefit to the sustainment and reliability of the inland waterways system.

In May 2015 the Commanding General, Great Lakes and Ohio River Division, approved a reconfiguration of the separate river district's fleets to the Regional Rivers Repair Fleet (R3F).

The former River maintenance fleet and service repair station configuration and management structure was not sustainable for several reasons; aging and deteriorating infrastructure that exceeded its economic design life, the major maintenance needs outpaced operations and maintenance funding levels in the region, even as O&M budgets have increased over the last five years; and, a growing number of major maintenance needs not within the essential core River Repair Fleet capability that we need the Rivers Repair Fleets and Stations to be doing. Essential core capability includes miter gate replacement and repair, and filling/emptying valve replacement and repair, hydraulic, mechanical and electrical equip replacement and repair.

The Regional Rivers Repair Fleet (R3F) provides the capability to execute major maintenance and repair efforts along 2,225 miles of the Alleghany, Clinch, Cumberland, Green, Kanawha, Monongahela, Tennessee, and Ohio Rivers on 56 Navigation Locks and Dams, 4 Hydroelectric Power Plants, and 74 Flood Risk Management Dams across Ohio, West Virginia, Kentucky, Virginia, Indiana, Tennessee and Pennsylvania.

The previous repair fleet configuration for the Rivers Districts consisted of 4 Repair Fleets and 4 Repair Stations controlled separately by each respective River District Operations Division. The Regional Rivers Repair Fleet (R3F) is now consolidated into 3 Repair Fleets and 4 Repair Stations all under the Command and Control of the Huntington District. The reorganization is meant to increase consistency across the fleets and stations to improve safety management, synchronize training, increase efficiency, and reduce overall operating expenses.

The R3F Chief, Brady Beckman, reports directly to the Huntington District Commander and is responsible for managing and directing a total staff of 138 personnel, the operation and maintenance of over 145 pieces of floating plant and heavy equipment, and executing an annual budget of approximately $37.5 million. The R3F is divided into 4 separate geographically separated sections, the Heavy Capacity Fleet, the Medium Capacity Fleet, the Light Capacity Fleet, and the Marietta Repair Station, each managed by a Section Chief who reports directly to the R3F Chief.

The Heavy Capacity Fleet is homeported at the Louisville Repair Station located on Shippingport Island, adjacent to the McAlpine Locks and Dam in Louisville, Kentucky and consists of the Heavy Capacity Fleet Unit and the Louisville Repair Station Unit. The Heavy Capacity Fleet and Louisville Repair Station have a total compliment of 50 Employees.

The Medium Capacity Fleet is homeported at the Pittsburgh Engineering Warehouse and Repair Station located on Neville Island in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and consists of the Medium Capacity Fleet Unit and the Pittsburgh Repair Station Unit. The Medium Capacity Fleet and Pittsburgh Repair Station have a total compliment of 55 employees.

The Light Capacity Fleet is homeported at the Cumberland River Operations Center located adjacent to the Old Hickory Lock and Dam in Old Hickory, Tennessee and consists of the Light Capacity Fleet Unit and the Cumberland River Operations Center Unit. The Light Capacity Fleet and Cumberland River Operations Center have a total compliment of 21 employees.

The Marietta Repair Station is located at the confluence of the Muskingum River and the Ohio River at Marietta, Ohio and has a compliment of 13 employees. The R3F also employees 2 intermittent employees who are both retired Towboat Operators, and fill in on an as needed basis across the fleets.

"With the condition of the infrastructure being what it is today, and a level of uncertainty on receiving adequate funding necessary to conduct major rehabilitation to our structures, I think the biggest single challenge that faces the R3F into the future is the ability to keep up with unscheduled outages primarily at our Navigation Facilities," said Beckman. "We have had to reduce our capacity in order to survive in a constrained budget environment, now it is our responsibility to make sure what we have left to work with is fully utilized and capable to meet an ever increasing work load," he said.

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