Bludworth Marine Relocates HQ to Galveston
As of June 1, 2019, Bludworth Marine, LLC has relocated their corporate headquarters to Galveston, Texas. The new location, at 320 77th Street, is minutes from the Bludworth Marine 100' x 300' graving dock location and the Port of Galveston Pier 38 dockside location. This proximity will allow quicker response and service to the continually increasing marine repair service business in Galveston and surrounding areas. The new 3.5-acre site location also includes a 75' x 150' high bay fabrication shop with a 10-ton overhead crane…
New ATB Builds for Island Tug & Barge
Over the years Vancouver, BC based Island Tug and Barge (ITB) has refurbished and repowered older vessels and completed new vessels. The company is currently working on its most ambitious and innovative project to date. In its Annacis Island Shipyard, located undercover in a pair of huge leased warehouses on the Fraser River, ITB is building two tugs that will be paired with two of its existing barges. The two boats are built with pins for use in an articulated tug and barge application.
Demand for Coastal and Transoceanic ATBs Grows
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.
Ocean Tug & Barge Designing AT/B Dredge Tug
Ocean Tug & Barge Engineering Corp. will design the tug portion of a new AT/B dredge to be built at Signal International, in Orange, TX, for Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Co. The “RAPID” Class AT/B’s high speed parent form lines for both the tug and the barge were developed by OT&BE and Taisei Engineering, of Tokyo. MARIN is adapting the lines to the specific dredge requirements and engaging in the associated optimization. The design feathers near-ship speeds with ship-like horsepower and is a great advance in AT/B design. Container AT/B’s under design with the same hulls will be capable of 16+ knots at near-ship HP levels. OT&BE will also design the supporting structure in the notch area of the barge to accept the Articouple connection system that will be used to connect the tug and barge.
Taisei Engineering & Bludworth Cook Partnership
Taisei Engineering of Tokyo Japan and Bludworth Cook Marine of Houston, Texas have partnered to provide sales, service and support in the United States for the ATB systems manufactured by Taisei Engineering of Japan. Since 1972 Taisei Engineering has sold 245 ATB units worldwide. Their ATB systems are divided into two series --- 2-pin supporting articulate connection Articouple, similar to those manufactured in the United States, and 3-pin supporting rigid connection Triofix --- and…
New Costwise ATB Design from Ocean Tug & Barge Engineering
Claiming "an advancement in the art of tug and barge design," Ocean Tug & Barge Engineering (OT&B), Milford, Conn., has introduced a new ATB design "based on the firm's long experience and highly successful specialization in this market," said OT&BE President Robert Hill. The company's Costwise AT/B series are targeted to attain higher unit speeds at sea, better maneuverability and improvements in habitability, constructability and ergonomics. "The Costwise AT/B design will be adaptable to the broader, worldwide market, while still meeting the unique design requirements of the U.S. market," Hill said. The company says it has had a hand either in the design or refit engineering of over one-half of the ATBs operation in the United States.
The ATB:A History of the State-of-the-Art
(This is Part I of a two-part series on the Articulated Tug Barge from Robert P. Hill. The American coastwise shipping business has grown in a way that differs from many other nations. The high cost of manning and building ships has led over the years to a coastwise transportation network dominated by tugs and barges. • Weather delays caused by the uncertainties of towing of a barge in heavy weather, especially a barge carrying petroleum and chemical products, are a constant problem. Towing a large barge in heavy seas just off the coast is a risky business. The possibility of parted towlines, (not to mention the reality in several hundred cases) and lost, drifting barges, has haunted tug and barge operators - as well as the customers they serve - for years.
