Five barge-leg checks before the ship berths
You are about to accept a bulk carrier and the marine leg has to be legal before the first line is on. These five checks are the bucket-elevator paragraphs in 29 CFR 1910.272(q). The hire, if the leg fails one of them, is the [diagnostic on the rule page](/service).
Ranked by how fast a miss stops the leg or creates a citation, not by preference. The standard text is 1910.272, accessed 8 October 2026.1 The under-one-million-bushel visual substitute is noted where it exists and rejected where the house publishes more storage, as Destrehan does at 5,500,000 bushels.2
| Rank | Check | Paragraph | If you skip it |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Do not jog a choked leg | (q)(1) | The prohibited fix is the one the crew will try first |
| 2 | Bearings outside the casing, or monitored | (q)(4) | An inside bearing with no monitor stays in the leg |
| 3 | Motion device at no more than 20 percent slowdown | (q)(5) | A slipping belt keeps running |
| 4 | Alignment alarm or constant adjustment | (q)(6) | The belt walks off and heats |
| 5 | Access at the head and the boot | (q)(3) | You cannot see the pulley, lagging, belt, or throat |
Why this order, and what each check is
- Jogging is first because it is an affirmative ban. A choked leg is buildup that stops flow and bucket movement. Restarting to clear it is the violation, even for one hold.
- Bearings are second because (m)(2) already pulls an overheated bearing out of service, and (q)(4) tells you how you were supposed to see the heat: external mounting, or vibration, temperature, or another monitor if the bearing is inside or partly inside.
- The motion device is third because the shutdown point is numeric: belt speed reduced by no more than 20 percent of normal. A switch that waits for a stall is late.
- Alignment is fourth. An alarm to employees, or a system that keeps adjusting the belt, is the choice. Rubbing a casing is how the bearing in rank 2 gets hot.
- Access is fifth because the inspection you certify under (m)(3) needs a way to see the head pulley, lagging, belt, and discharge throat, and a way to clean and see the boot. A locked head is an unread leg.
Belts and lagging purchased after 30 March 1988 have to be conductive, at or under 300 megohms. That is (q)(2). It is not a sixth operational check on the night the ship arrives, unless you are installing a belt. Paragraphs (q)(5) and (q)(6) drop out under one million bushels with a daily visual inspection of bucket movement and tracking. They also drop out under (q)(8) if a suppression system covers at least the head and boot, or if dust inside the leg is kept at least 25 percent below the lower explosive limit the whole time the leg runs. Export houses that publish multi-million-bushel storage do not get the small-house path. Destrehan’s minimum dockage of $32,000 a berthing is what the ship is sitting on while you do the five checks.3 The Destrehan unloader note has the buoy rate that this list does not.
Questions before the first line is on
Can I swap ranks 3 and 4?
You can inspect them in one pass. The rank is the consequence: a motion device that is missing lets a slow belt continue, which is the slipping belt (m)(2) already tells you to remove. Alignment is the defect that creates that slip. Do both. Do not drop the motion device because the belt looks straight at idle.
Does this list cover a floating unloader?
Only if that unloader is a bucket elevator. Myrtle Grove publishes a Heyl Patterson barge unloader designed for midstream work. Confirm the mechanism before you demand a 20 percent motion switch. The five checks are written for 1910.272(q), not for every machine that lifts grain.
Where is the hire if check 2 fails tonight?
On the rule page, which is the diagnostic for a marine leg, a loader, or a collector. This list does not send a refused house, a farm bin, or a terminal in Mississippi, Texas, or Arkansas. The callback on this page is the same qualifier.
Is there a fee for the five checks?
Not in 1910.272. The tariff prices the ship’s wait, including Destrehan dockage, and does not price the inspection. Verify the diagnostic. Do not turn the $32,000 minimum dockage into a service rate.
If a check fails and the machine is a Louisiana export leg, go back to the diagnostic on the rule page.
References
- Electronic Code of Federal Regulations. “29 CFR 1910.272(q).” Accessed 8 October 2026. Document.
- Blue Water Shipping. “ADM Grain Co. — Destrehan,” 5,500,000 bushels. Accessed 8 October 2026. Document.
- ADM Grain Company. “Elevator Tariff No. 11,” effective 1 April 2026. Accessed 8 October 2026. Document.
How to cite this page
APA: Five barge-leg checks before the ship berths. (2026, October 8). Louisiana Grain Elevator Diagnostics. https://louisianagrainelevator.com/best/barge-leg-checks-before-berthing
MLA: “Five barge-leg checks before the ship berths.” Louisiana Grain Elevator Diagnostics, 8 Oct. 2026, https://louisianagrainelevator.com/best/barge-leg-checks-before-berthing.
Chicago: Louisiana Grain Elevator Diagnostics. “Five barge-leg checks before the ship berths.” Accessed October 8, 2026. https://louisianagrainelevator.com/best/barge-leg-checks-before-berthing.