Travelift Begins Long Journey to Louisiana

Valdez Star Newspaper Article - 14 February 2006 [LINK]

VALDEZ - In the end, it was Carlile Transportation, the Alaska owned and operated trucking company out of Anchorage, who stepped up to the plate last week, by loading up the long disassembled marine travel lift that has been donated by the City of Valdez to Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana, a coastal fishing community that was devastated by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita late last summer, and is moving the valuable equipment to aid in ongoing relief efforts on the Gulf Coast.

“We do a lot of in-kind or charitable type work,” said Tom Hendrix, who works for Carlile and spoke on behalf of the company last week when it was announced that Carlile would be transporting the Lift from Valdez to the company’s receiving terminal in Houston, Texas, where Parish officials will be responsible for moving the Lift back to Louisiana.

The donation of transportation, which Hendrix said will be quite costly but gave no firm number for, comes at the behest of Carlile President Harry McDonald. “His belief is in supporting the communities that support us,” said Hendrix.

While the long awaited gift makes its way down the Alaska Highway through Canada to all the way to Houston, officials of the Plaquemines Parish and officials from the various relief organizations in the area are scrambling to arrange transport of the Lift from Houston to Plaquemines.

After the lift arrives, which is being eagerly anticipated by the folks associated with the recovery efforts of the fishing industry in the area, it will be met by a face familiar in Valdez, namely Dennis Sargent, the mechanic sent by Travelift, the manufacturer of the equipment, who spent several days in Valdez in late January to supervise the dismantling of the Lift.

Sargent will be on hand to help workers down there reassemble the lift, where it is sure to go into immediate use. Sargent, whose time is being donated by Travelift, said he was pleased with the condition of the contraption, which is capable of moving large boats in and out of water.

“It sure is a valuable asset to us,” said Plaquemines Parish Director of Operations Lonnie Greco.

Months after the Hurricanes ripped through the area bringing death and destruction to people who live there and the industries they rely on, Greco estimated that maybe half of the residents, including fishermen, had returned to the area to try to rebuild the towns in the Parish, and their lives. “Without the fishing industry, we don’t survive,” he said.

Four and a half months before the next hurricane season arrives, Parish officials are still sorting through the red tape that typically plagues disaster recovery efforts of any kind, and the donated Travel Lift, which will get to the Parish almost four months after the matter was first considered by the Valdez City Council last year, is just one more step forward in their efforts. “Its just a slow process,” said Greco, who comes from an old fishing family in the area.

Despite its late arrival, Greco says the Parish is extremely grateful for the big gesture from Valdez, and wished he could have come North to thank the town personally. “Its really touching,” he said.

Tags: Valdez Alaska Plaquemines Louisiana Travelift Katrina