Latest Robert Allan Designed Barges in Canadian Arctic

Four Robert Allan designed shallow draft, double hull, combined bulk oil & deck barges, built in China for ITB North Limited, are now in service delivering bulk fuel oil and deck cargoes to various locations in the Far North less than 11 months after the original design contract was placed.

When ITB Marine Group decided to expand their operations to the Mackenzie River, they chose to work once again with Robert Allan Ltd. to design their new shallow draft double hull oil barges.

An extremely tight design and build schedule was required in order to get the barges delivered to the Canadian Arctic in time for the 2013 summer operating season.  The highly compressed design schedule involved a close collaboration between Owner and designer in the development of this unique class of vessel required to operate on the Mackenzie River with its challenging 1.5m river draft, short 3 month operating season, and many ports of call that are little more than a river bank.  

Steel cutting commenced just 3 months after the award of the design contract.  In all, four barges have been built to this design and have been named the ITB Deh Cho 1, ITB Deh Cho 2, ITB Deh Cho 3, and ITB Deh Cho 4.  “Deh Cho” is Dene First Nation’s for Big River which is their name for the Mackenzie River.

The barges were constructed at Jiangsu Yangzijiang Shipbuilding Company in China under the construction management and supervision of Seabridge Marine Contractors.

All four barges are now in service delivering bulk fuel oil and deck cargoes to various locations in the North less than 11 months after the original design contract was placed.