Jeff L Yates News

Already the operator of the largest fleet of inland tank barges on U.S. inland waters, Kirby Marine Transportation, has recently added twelve more push boats to its fleet. The twelfth in a series of sister vessels was delivered from Raymond and Associates of Bayou LaBatre, Ala. in late July 2010. All twelve of the 1700 hp boats are 76 by 35-ft in length. Each boat is powered by a pair of Tier 2 compliant Cummins K38-M diesels rated for 850 hp each at 1800 rpm. The engines turn big 76 by 56-inch five-blade props through Twin Disc TD MT540 gears with relatively large ratios of 7:1.

Delivered from Steiner Shipyard in Bayou LaBatre on September 29, the first of Southern Towing's Cummins-powered Z-drive tugs is now pushing barges on the inland waterways. Photographer Jeff L. Yates has provided Cummins Marine with the attached shot of the Frank T. Stegbauer on the Ohio River at on September 30, 2008. According to the company newsletter several wheelmen have already gone for Z-drive training. At 120 x 34 ft., this is a mid-size inland waterway towboat. The vessel…