Kirby Marine Orders New Towboats

Kirby Marine has 241 active towboats and 887 active tank barges with a total capacity of 16.4 million barrels. The company’s ongoing repower program that has seen 46 Cummins engines installed to date. More recently the publicly traded corporation has announced plans for two new builds the first of which will be delivered in September 2006. The 90x35x10-foot vessel will be built by Quality Marine of Houma Louisiana to a design by Maine-based naval architect Corning Townsend. The new vessel will be powered by a pair of Cummins KTA38 M2 engines rated at 1050 HP each at 1600 RPM each. The engines will turn into Twin Disc MG5600 gears with 6.4:1 rations. The propellers are 82x63-inch and mounted on 7.5-inch tail shafts. Electric service for the vessel will come from a pair of 99 Kw generator sets. Deck equipment will include a pair of Nabrico 40 ton electric over hydraulic winches. Tankage on the new towboat includes 22,144 gallons of fuel, 12,040 gallons of water and 513 gallons of water. With an estimated bollard pull of 42,000 pounds the towboats will each push three 30,000-barrel barges on canal and river operations. Accommodation will be provided for four to six crew-members.