Moran Towing Corp News

Ohio-based shipping firm the Interlake Steamship Company announced it will time charter a 418-foot, 14,400-short-ton capacity dry cargo barge from the U.S. East Coast to operate on the Great Lakes starting this spring.The single-hold covered hopper barge Montville, owned and operated by Connecticut-based towing services provider Moran Towing Corp, will be under charter through 2019 with options to extend.The time charter deal marks a first for Great Lakes carrier Interlake, whose owned fleet includes nine self-unloading vessels ranging in carrying capacity from 24,000 to 68,000 gross tons.

Along the way, ATBs gain speed, efficiency, safety – and popularity. Operators of articulated tugs and barges, or ATBs, say they like the maneuverability, weather reliability, stability, speed of these units, and the manner in which the tug pushes the barge. As a marine transportation concept, they can also simply be described as versatile. ATBs move petroleum, chemicals, coal, grain, containerized cargo and rail cars for customers on the U.S. coasts, rivers, the Great Lakes and overseas. As a result, demand for articulated units expanded in the last two decades with new technology.

Vigor Industrial LLC, Moran Towing Corp., and Maersk Line, Ltd. Vigor Industrial LLC, Portland, Ore., is being awarded a $6,875,938 firm-fixed-price contract for a 68-calendar day mid-term shipyard availability of USNS Guadalupe (T-AO 200). Work will include 72,000-hour main engine maintenance; main engine turbocharger overhaul; port shaft brake overhaul; starboard power take-off clutch/coupling overhaul, deck non-skid preservation; roller door replacement; and gypsy winch overhauls. Guadalupe's primary mission is to provide fuel to U.S.

According to a report from The Stamford Advocate, within the first days of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill four months ago, New Canaan-based Moran Towing Corp. was employed to help recover the gushing petroleum and launch a separate operation cleaning up beaches in Alabama and Florida. Before the well was capped, the barge Massachusetts and tug Mary Moran rendezvoused with BP's Discoverer Enterprise oil rig and take on the oil, sea water and other materials being drawn from the sea floor for transfer to Gulf of Mexico ports. The company's tugboat Catherine B. Moran also helped at the site, tending the hose link between the Discoverer Enterprise before the well was capped. The Connecticut, a second barge, and the tugboat Joan Turecamo also took part in efforts to skim the waters for oil.

According to a report from www.silive.com, a deckhand at the Moran Towing Corp. dock in Port Richmond, was crushed to death on board one of the company's tugboats in Hackensack River near Secaucus, N.J., at 2:00 a.m. the morning of Dec. 27. Ricardo Young, 50, of Queens, died on board the Turecamo Girls when he became tangled in hawsers being used to tow another vessel. (Source: www.silive.com)

Sixty-Nine prominent shipping industry executives have been elected as new members of ABS. In addition, Rear Admiral David L. Brewer III, Commander, Military Sealift Command, U.S. Navy, was appointed as a member. This brings the ABS worldwide membership to 803. The members, each eminent in their maritime field of endeavor, provide broad governance and oversight of ABS. Members are drawn from various sectors of the marine, offshore and related industries worldwide. M.A. Marcelo P. S.A. Ghazi A. Al-Ibrahim, President, Mideast Shipmanagement Ltd. Giovanni Barbaro, Owner, Pietro Barbaro S.p.A. S.p.A. Giuseppe Bottiglieri, Managing Director, Bottiglieri Di Navigazione, S.p.A. Jae Cheol Byun, President, JSM International Ltd. Dr. Mauro Fernando Orofino Campos, President, Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.

Around the end of June Moran Towing Corp. of New Canaan, Connecticut will launch the Lisa Moran, a new triple screw push boat at the C&G Boatworks yard in Mobile Alabama. This will be the third push boat in the extensive and varied Moran fleet. The firm’s two existing pushboats were repowered with Cummins engines earlier this year. Three Cummins KTA38 M0 mains, each one producing 850 hp at 1800 rpm, will power the 77 x 30-ft. Lisa Moran. Each engine will turn into ZF model W3310 marine gears with 5:1 reduction and five-inch diameter Aquamet 17 shafts. The hull has a molded depth of ten feet six inches. Accommodations are designed for a crew of eight. Tankage includes 30,000 gallons of fuel, 5,000 gallons of water and 165 gallons of lube oil.

Bay-Houston Towing Co., Suderman & Young Towing Co. LP, and Moran Towing Corporation are pleased to announce they have jointly contracted with the ConocoPhillips Company to provide harbor tug services for LNG vessels calling at the Freeport LNG terminal, currently under construction in the Port of Freeport, Texas. Bay-Houston and Suderman & Young will each provide one 6300 hp Z-Tech tractor tug while Moran Towing Corp. will provide a 5100 hp ASD tractor tug. ABS Escort Service; and ABS Fire Fighting Vessel Class 1. Galveston, Texas will operate the three tugboats. The tugs will deliver a combined bollard pull in excess of 235 short tons. The Z-Techs are powered by two Caterpillar 3516C HD engines providing 6300 hp (4700 kw). Schottel Model SRP 1520 Z-drives.

Bollinger Shipyards, Inc. of Lockport, La., and Moran Towing Corp., New Canaan, Ct., signed contracts for Bollinger to build one 14,500 short ton bulk barge and one 60,000 barrel Oil Pollution Act of 1990 (OPA’90) double-hull, ocean-going barge. The large bulk barge will be similar to the three bulk barges currently in the Moran fleet, Bridgeport, Somerset and Portsmouth. The barge will be able to carry a wide range of products, including petroleum coke, coal, fertilizers, grains, scrap metal, steel plates, steel coils, sugar, crushed glass and numerous other commodities, as well as finished goods for a variety of long-term and spot customers. The bulk barge will be classed unmanned ocean service with dimensions of 418.5-ft. x 75-ft. x 29-ft.

California Fish & Game recently took delivery of P/V Thresher, a 54 ft. all-aluminum catamaran, designed by Teknicraft of Aukland, New Zealand, and built by Kvichak Marine, of Seattle, Wash. The partially foil-supported catamaran will be stationed in Dana Point as a Fish and Game Marine Enforcement patrol vessel for Southern California. The cat's beam is 20.2 ft., and weighs nearly 28 tons fully loaded. Powered by twin Caterpillar 3196 DITA diesel engines, driving 30 in. stainless steel propellers through Twin Disc MG 5114A gears, Thresher cruises at 26 knots with a top speed of 30 knots. Deck equipment includes an aft deck A-frame to deploy and retrieve a customer-supplied Hurricane inflatable.

Washburn & Doughty Associates Inc. have signed a contract with Moran Towing Corp. to build one 92-ft. Z Drive Tug (Hull 66) with options for additional tugs. Hull 66 was designed by Washburn & Doughty's vice-president Bruce Washburn for ship handling and coastwise towing and will be built to ABS class Maltese Cross A1, AMS with towing service notation. Two EMD 16-645-E2 main engines rated at 2,100 hp at 900 rpm will power the vessel. The engines will drive Ulstein Z Drives equipped with stainless steel propellers and kort nozzles. Two Detroit model 6-71RC "N" generator engines rated at 70kW at 1,200 rpm, 208V 3 phase will be installed onboard. Hull 66 will feature rubber "D" fender fitted on the vessel's sides at the main deck extending between the bow and stern fenders.