CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Editor's note: The barge stuck in Packery Channel was scheduled to be removed Sunday but after our 5 p.m. newscast, city councilman Dan Suckley contacted 3NEWS saying technical difficulties are now delaying removal.
The infamous barge stuck in the Packery Channel is finally getting removed after months of being caught along jetty rocks.
It has been there since September, when Hurricane Ian created rough conditions that partially submerged the barge.
3NEWS spoke with city councilmember of district 4, Dan Suckley to learn more about the barge removal process.
Suckley said, "Came out here Friday, and unfortunately, the process of the barge being extracted, had already stopped for the day. They had had a catastrophic failure on the hydraulic unit on the pulling machine."
Contractors began evaluating whether to get it repaired, or to find a replacement. A key piece of machinery came in from Florida.
“They're already re-airing up the barge for additional buoyancy so when they do start pulling it'll come off quicker," Suckley explained.
Suckley provided this timeline for the barge removal. "I think they'd anticipated based on the pace that it was getting extracted on Friday, that if they could continue on that same pace, that it could be ten hours or less." Suckley said.
But of course, there's more work to be done once the barge is removed from the Packery Channel.
Suckley added, "Once that barge does get up onshore, they are going to maintain this roped off work zone for some period of time. Because then they're going to have to go ahead and cut it up into pieces. And then remove it via truck in pieces after that."
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