Mississippi River opens after salvors move ?Lee III?

Mississippi River opens after salvors move ôLee IIIö    The U.S. Coast Guard opened the Southwest Pass, the only deep-draft access to the Mississippi River, at 1 p.m. Wednesday, after salvage workers removed the sunken offshore supply vessel “Lee III” from the channel.
   The Associated Branch Pilots in New Orleans implemented a vessel movement plan based on priority, said Paul Dauphin, a spokesman for the Port of New Orleans. Fifty-one deep-sea ships were waiting to enter the Mississippi, and 52 vessels were waiting to exit the river.
   Crews who worked on removing the “Lee III” encountered “very inclement weather and strong river currents,” the Coast Guard said in a statement.
   The 534-foot containership “Zim Mexico III,” which collided with the 178-foot ‘Lee III” before dawn Feb. 21, “remains restricted to Pilottown Anchorage” the Coast Guard said. The vessel has visible damage to its bulbous bow.
   Although the Coast Guard has given no official explanation for the collision, other sources report the “Zim Mexico III” was traveling upriver at 10 knots, keeping to the west side of the Southwest Pass because that was the deepest part of the channel. The “Lee III” was moving downriver on the east side of the channel.
   Radio communications between the vessels suggested they were preparing for a starboard-to-starboard pass when the lights of the “Lee III” came up suddenly in fog, before the “Zim Mexico III” could maneuver away.
   The five-man crew of the “Lee III” is believed lost. In 1993, three crewmen on the 156-foot supply boat “Galveston” died when their vessel hit a grain ship.