Transport Barge News

U.S. shipyards are making improvements to building ships for the Navy and Coast Guard today and in the future. In some cases, it means phasing out one class of ship and getting ready for the next. Or, it can be a drastic make-over.The yards include mid-tier yards all the way up to very large facilities devoted exclusively to warships. The ships range from the 353-ton Fast Response Cutter to the 100,000-ton nuclear-powered aircraft carriers. Fincantieri Marinette Marine in Wisconsin…

Dutch/German grid operator TenneT said Monday that the 900 MW offshore substation platform DolWin kappa had sailed away from the Dragados Offshore shipyard in Cádiz, Spain. "TenneT will soon be reliably bringing even more green wind power from the German North Sea to land via the direct current connection DolWin6," TenneT said in the announcement of the sailaway which took place on August 5, 2022."After only three years of construction, the platform is now on board the transport barge “Iron Lady” and on its way to the Dutch port of Rotterdam.

As a rudderless U.S. Navy debates maritime strategy, fleet futures and platform performance, America’s naval shipbuilding industry can look forward to another year of relative stasis.Barring a major geopolitical incident or unexpected maritime provocation, government shipbuilding isn’t going to change course. With Admiral Michael Gilday approaching the final “lame duck” year of his four-year term as Chief of Naval Operations and the 2024 election season looming, the prospect for major changes in the Navy’s demand signal seems limited.Aside from the U.S.

The European Union is underwriting a project, called Current Direct, to facilitate and hasten the transition to battery powered commercial maritime vessels. It's funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program. It also has 13 private sector partners, including Blackstone Resources, Spear Power Systems and Wärtsilä. It has a quick timeline; a demonstration project should be ready by 2023.New thinking and innovation run across every aspect of this project…

Bollinger Shipyards on Monday announced it will construct a new pontoon launcher for General Dynamics Electric Boat to support the construction and launching of the U.S. Navy’s Columbia Class Ballistic Missile Submarines.The concept and contract design for the 496- by 95-foot pontoon launcher was performed by the Bristol Harbor Group in Rhode Island. The detail design engineering will be performed at the Bollinger facility in Lockport, La. The launcher is scheduled to be delivered…

On Monday, the new ocean transport barge Holland arrived at Electric Boat’s Groton Shipyard. The barge was purpose-built to support delivery of Columbia class ballistic missile submarines. General Dynamics Electric Boat is the prime contractor on construction of the Columbia class.The Holland was designed by Bristol Harbor Group, Inc. (BHGI) and constructed by Bollinger Shipyards, LLC, of Lockport, La. The namesake of the new barge is John Holland, the Irish-born immigrant who designed the first submarine purchased by the U.S. Navy.

Naval shipyards and industry partners see business growing, but finding enough trained and qualified workers is a challenge.General Dynamics Electric Boat will invest $1.7 billion to modernize and upgrade its Quonset, R.I. and Groton, Conn., facilities over the next ten years,” said Sean Davies , vice president for EB’s Quonset Point Operations. “Here at Quonset, we are investing $700 million that will increase our outfitting space by 13 acres, to support work on the Virginia and Columbia class of submarines.

Bollinger Shipyards on Saturday christened the Holland, an ocean transport barge for General Dynamics Electric Boat. The Holland will support the construction and maintenance of the United States Navy’s Columbia Class ballistic missile submarines and Virginia Class fast attack submarines. General Dynamics Electric Boat is the prime contractor on the design and build of the Columbia Class submarine, which will replace the aging Ohio Class ballistic missile submarines.“Bollinger…

Bollinger Shipyards announced on Wednesday that it has been awarded a contract by the U.S. Naval Sea Systems Command to conduct a concept study and the preliminary design of the U.S. Navy’s Light Amphibious Warship (LAW).The LAW program envisions procuring a class of 28 to 30 new amphibious ships to support the Marine Corps, particularly in implementing a new Marine Corps operational concept called Expeditionary Advanced Base Operations (EABO). The Navy envisions the first LAW being procured in FY2023.“Bollinger Shipyards is honored and excited to continue participating in the LAW program,” said Bollinger president and CEO Ben Bordelon.

Louisiana-based Bollinger Shipyards announced Wednesday it will construct a state-of-the-art, floating dry dock for Groton, Conn. shipyard General Dynamics Electric Boat to support the construction and maintenance of the United States’ new Columbia Class of Ballistic Missile Submarines.The detail design engineering will be performed at the Bollinger facility in Lockport, La. The concept and contract design for the 618ft by 140ft dry dock was performed by the Bristol Harbor Group in Rhode Island.

Bollinger Shipyards won a contract to build an ocean transport barge for General Dynamics Electric Boat, a barge designed and built to transport submarine modules to Electric Boat’s Groton Shipyard for final assembly and test.  The concept and contract design for the 395 x 100ft. Ocean Transport Barge was performed by the Bristol Harbor Group.  The detail design engineering will be performed at the Bollinger Lockport New Construction facility in Lockport, Louisiana and the construction will take place at the Bollinger Marine Fabrication facility in Amelia, La. Delivery is scheduled for 2021.

Marine News showcases the best of North America’s 2017 workboat deliveries. There is something for everyone. Notwithstanding the lingering offshore energy downturn, there were plenty of bright spots for North American shipyards in 2017. If a hull was delivered in 2017, we took a look at it, with several areas as a focus for inclusion into this edition. For starters, it is always exciting when a domestic yard delivers a vessel – or multiple vessels, for that matter – to foreign buyers. We can compete in a foreign arena; on price, quality and on-time delivery. This year was no different. No less important is the environmental footprint of a vessel, and there was plenty to report on from that angle in the past 12 months. The domestic waterfront is indeed getting greener and cleaner.

Harvest, an ABS-classed articulated tug barge (ATB) purpose-built to transport liquefied anhydrous ammonia, has been delivered to a subsidiary of Savage Companies by U.S. shipbuilder Vigor. Harvest is the first complex liquefied ammonia transport barge built in the U.S. since 1982. “The delivery of this ATB represents a landmark achievement for all of the project stakeholders as well as the U.S. shipbuilding industry,” said ABS Americas Division President Jamie Smith. “The first-of-its-kind in over three decades, the Harvest will help reshape the U.S. fleet and support safer trading in U.S.

U.S. shipbuilder Vigor has launched The Harvest, the first complex liquefied ammonia transport barge built in the U.S. for Jones Act trade since 1982. The vessel was constructed to support the operations of The Mosaic Company, an integrated producer and marketer of concentrated phosphate and potash. The Harvest will be operated by a subsidiary of Savage Companies as part of an articulated tug and barge (ATB) unit. “This is a significant project for both the maritime industry and our community,” said Vigor CEO, Frank Foti.

The almost 100-year old firm has many specialties, including the ability to construct innovative, complicated tonnage for its own purposes. The slowdown in barge construction in some sectors hasn’t dampened the need for specialty barges in other areas. In many cases, these mission requirements can involve the repurposing of existing tonnage using sometimes innovative and unusual design parameters. Such was the case when Cranford, NJ-based Weeks Marine (WMI) completed the conversion of an existing ABS deck barge into a loadline compliant, semi-submersible, all self-contained unit. Its first assignment involved transit to Canada for the launching of concrete caissons in Halifax, Nova Scotia for a new pier.

Flinterstar III BV, the owner of the Dutch freighter MV Flinterstar, has entered into a contract with a consortium of Belgian marine contractors to remove the wreck of the vessel which sank in the North Sea off the coast of Zeebrugge following a collision last October. The consortium will be headed by SCALDIS, a joint company of DEME, Jan De Nul and Herbosch-Kiere. Bart Otto, Director of Flinterstar lll BV, said: “Our primary concern has been that the wreck removal operation should be undertaken in the safest and most environmentally sensitive manner possible.

The Shearer Group and Conrad Shipyard collaborate on an ABS approved LNG Towboat Design. What happens next could change inland shipping forever. The December announcement that Conrad Shipyard, L.L.C. and The Shearer Group, Inc. (TSGI) had worked together to develop the design of a Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) powered 4,200 horsepower towboat utilizing a proven TSGI design was, perhaps, exciting enough on its own merits. That the team had also been awarded an “Approval in Principle” (AIP) by the American Bureau of Shipping (ABS) for the design was especially significant for the nation’s inland waterfront. Packing clean LNG power into an inland towboat was no easy task. And yet, the potential for the concept to blossom in this largely fixed, point-to-point market is very real.

Offshore marine and engineering consultancy Aqualis Offshore, part of Oslo-listed Aqualis ASA, has been contracted by Gas Entec Co. Ltd to provide an engineering study of a new-build LNG barge that will operate offshore the U.S. The contract value is undisclosed. Aqualis Offshore’s work scope is to provide a Failure Modes and Effects Analysis (FMEA) study for Control and Alarm Monitoring System (CAMS), Emergency Shutdown System (ESDS), and Wireless Telemetry System installed on the 2,200 cubic meter LNG bunkering/transport barge. The LNG bunkering/transport barge will carry LNG cargo from the port facilities towards LFS (LNG Fuelled Ship) for bunkering. The LNG bunkering barge is built by Conrad Shipyard, Texas, for TOTE.

The last piece of the LNG infrastructure puzzle, in the form of North America’s first LNG bunker barge, falls into place at Conrad’s Orange, Texas Shipyard. With continued debate over new emissions standards and compliance dates hanging over the heads of operators in the Emission Compliance Zones like the Sword of Damocles, WesPac Midstream LLC, a provider of liquefied natural gas solutions, and its affiliate Clean Marine Energy, a facilitator of solutions for emission compliance…

Conrad Shipyard, L.L.C. engaged Bristol Harbor Group, Inc. (BHGI) to develop a 3,000 cubic meter Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) transport barge utilizing a Bristol Harbor Group proven hull design built by Conrad. Bristol Harbor Group has been awarded an Approval in Principle (AIP) by the American Bureau of Shipping (ABS) for the design of the 3,000 cubic meter Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) Transport Barge design on behalf of Conrad Shipyard, L.L.C. of Morgan City, Louisiana. BHGI has a decade long relationship with Conrad Shipyard, L.L.C.

A raft of new and innovative concepts for LNG barge missions hits the market, in North America and across the pond, as well. Industry gears up for the soon-to-come need for bunkering, infrastructure and LNG-related logistics. In 2014, innovation – as it turns out – means new ideas for the (previously) boring subject of marine barges. It also means LNG. Paired together, LNG and barges are giving naval architects, global classification societies and the operators of a new generation of LNG-powered tonnage something to think about. That’s because the final link of the push to move to dual fuel and/or LNG-powered commercial vessels involves infrastructure. Some early stakeholders are ramping up shore infrastructure to meet the coming demand for bunkers.

While the maritime industry is widely labeled ‘conservative’ in its adoption of new technologies to make operations more efficient and cost effective, recent years have seen a decided uptick in the level and sophistication of design, external and internal, across the maritime spectrum. Following are some recent revelations that could work their ways onto a waterway close to you in the near future. While investment in short-sea shipping generates plenty of debate and little action…

Tug Fairmount Glacier has towed pipelay-vessel Castoro Sei to Rotterdam, the Netherlands, from where the vessel will start her seasonal activities on the North Sea. The Fairmount Glacier hooked-up with Castoro Sei in Genoa, Italy. The Castoro Sei is a 28,000 ton DWT 152 meters long semi-submersible pipelay-vessel operated by Italian Saipem. For her towage from Genoa towards Rotterdam the Fairmount Glacier was mobilized from Las Palmas. The convoy reached Gibraltar within six days.