NY Power Authority’s Havasu II to be Christened

The New York Power Authority’s newly constructed pedestal crane barge will be christened at Great Lakes Shipyard, Cleveland, Ohio.  The christening ceremony will take place on Thursday, September 23, 2010, beginning at 11 a.m.  The barge will be utilized for deployment and retrieval of an ice boom placed across the Niagara River at Buffalo New York to prevent ice from blocking the hydro-electric water intakes of the New York Power Authority.
 
Bristol Harbor Group Inc., Bristol, Rhode Island, designed the barge for New York Power Authority and also acted as its representatives during construction.
 
Ronald C. Rasmus, President and CEO of The Great Lakes Group, will be the ceremony’s principal speaker. Patricia Anne Lombardi, Associate Engineer, Power Supply – Project Management Hydro/Transmission Group – Niagara Project, is the ship’s sponsor, and will ceremonially name the barge Havasu II by breaking the traditional bottle of champagne against its hull.  Also speaking will be Joseph P. Starck, President of Great Lakes Shipyard.
 
Later this month, before the end of September, the barge will be towed from the Shipyard to its new homeport in Buffalo, New York by a Great Lakes Towing Company tugboat.  The Towing Company’s tugboats provide marine transportation services in the ports of Buffalo and Cleveland, as well as in all other U.S. Great Lakes ports.
 
In other news, Great Lakes Shipyard was recently awarded a follow-on $8.2m contract by the U.S. Geological Survey, Great Lakes Science Center, Ann Arbor, Michigan for two new research vessels to support the oceanographic and fisheries assessment mission on the Great Lakes.  The new research vessels will replace the Research Vessels Musky II on Lake Erie and Kaho on Lake Ontario.  The construction of these vessels will employ more than 43 Shipyard welders, mechanics, electricians and painters, and is expected to be completed in August, 2011.