Blessey Marine Growth Continues With Cummins-powered Pushboats
Over the past decade Blessey Marine has coasted on a growth curve taking delivery of a large number of Cummins-powered pushboats for their inland fleet. The vessels are sized to share a common versatility with the draft and horsepower to work both the shallower waters of the Intracoastal Waterway and power for the big flows of the Mississippi River.
A look at the company equipment list (http://www.blessey.com/Equipment/Vessels/EquipmentList.pdf ) shows a number of vessels with either 1700 or 2000 horsepower. The lower HP boats are 76 feet long while the higher HP boats are 80 to 88 feet long.
Both sets of vessels are fitted with a pair of the popular K38M main engines. The 76-footers each have the engines with an 850-HP rating while the larger hulls have the 1000-HP rating.
This May saw the addition of the Erin C Grenon, one more of the 1700-HP class, delivered to Blessey from the Raymond & Assoc. (LaForce) yard in Bayou LaBatre, Alabama under hull #479. Two 850-HP K38M engines power the new towboat and turn up to 1800 RPM to Reintjes WAF474 marine gears with 7.09:1 reduction. The boat is also fitted with a pair of Cummins QSB7DM-powered 85 kW generators sets.
Blessey Marine
