By BRADEN LAMMERS, Evening News
Braden.Lammers@newsandtribune.com
One of the largest local grants received through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act in Southern Indiana totaled $2.3 million and was awarded to Jeffboat LLC.
The grant was designated as part of the U.S. Department of Transportation Maritime Administration's Assistance to Small Shipyards program, for repair of a slipway and aerial lifts for the company.
"[The program] will help create and preserve jobs, provide valuable employment training and make much needed improvements to shipyards across the country," said the Recovery.gov Web site.
To what extent the program will create new jobs and preserve the jobs in Clark County is unknown, for now. "Unfortunately, at this juncture we do not have the complete reporting information back from our vendors and will not be able to speculate on the number [of jobs] prior to reporting the information to the official federal government reporting Web site," said David Parker, vice president of corporate communications for American Commercial Lines -parent company of Jeffboat- in an e-mail. "Timeline wise...is that realistically the info[rmation] will not be available until the end of January."
Once the information is gathered by Jeffboat it will be posted on the ARRA Web site.
But until then, Jeffboat has commenced on two projects using the $2.3 million in government funding.
The majority of the funding went to rehabilitation of a slipway, initially constructed in 1942.
More specifically, the construction was to restore what is referred to as the zero position -the intersection of four manufacturing lines, which are designed in an "H" pattern with the zero position considered the perpendicular line in the "H."
Position Zero is a critical intersection in our manufacturing process and the manufacturing lines feed a common launchway to the river, according to the project description. This project appropriates funds for refurbishing the existing infrastructure enabling Jeffboat to continue to manufacture barges for the marine transportation industry in a safe and efficient manner.
"That concrete had deteriorated to the point where we were concerned," said Jacques Vanier, vice president of manufacturing at Jeffboat, referring to the position zero site.
By repairing the area, Vanier said it was analogous to repaving a road, the condition and structural integrity of Jeffboat's launchway was somewhat alleviated.
"It reduces potential damage to barges," Vanier said. "Where the savings comes from this is we have a very smooth path."
The smooth path allows for fewer delays and less risk of damage to the barges.
The project will be finished by Jan. 1, 2010, Vanier said.
Rehabilitating position zero took up most of the $2.3 million awarded to Jeffboat and also required a 25 percent match in funds to pay for the project.
According to the project description the general contractor for the project was Louisville-based Derek Engineering.
Again, the total number of jobs created through this project will not be known until late January.
The remaining portion of the grant, nearly $700,000, was used to purchase several lifts to reduce risk to Jeffboat employees.
Jeffboat plans to purchase 24 aerial lifts, including articulating boom manlifts and scissor lifts, which it expects to receive by year's end 2009, the project description said.
"Utilizing the aerial lifts...will enable Jeffboat to manufacture barges and specialty vessels with a greater efficiency and an increased focus on safety and quality," the description said.
Jeffboat experienced 30 injuries related to ladders in 2008 with 29 percent of its fall related injuries associated with either ladders or scaffolding, according to the report.
Even though Jeffboat officials recently reported the company had reached two million hours without a lost-time-injury, it believes the purchase of the aerial lifts will add to the safety of its employees.
"The opportunity for injury goes down dramatically with the man lifts," Vanier said.
About $685,000, plus estimated shipping costs of $5,572, will be paid to acquire the lifts from Sunbelt the lowest bidder for the project and the lifts are manufactured in Pennsylvania, according to the project description.
Although the report is still out for the jobs created or saved through this portion of the project, a substantial impact may be felt elsewhere.
"We contracted the work, so the job creation would have been with the man lift contractor," Vanier said.
Even without a definitive number of jobs saved and created, the local impact for both projects is significant, according to Jeffboat officials.
"The Jeffboat impact allows us to continue to function without interruption," Vanier said. "The beauty of these types of grants is it augments what the company is able to do."