Maritrans Fleet Utilization Down in 2Q

AP has reported that Maritrans Inc., which operates a fleet of tugs, barges and oil tankers, said preliminary fleet utilization for the second quarter declined to 77.5 percent from 81.8 percent in the same period last year. The company said refinery out-of-service time was unusually high during the first half of the year because of maintenance turnarounds, retooling and outages from the 2005 hurricane season. Matritans said idle time for its spot clean product fleet declined from the first quarter but was higher than in the second quarter of 2005. The company expects to report 140 vessel days of out-of-service time for maintenance and capital projects for its ships. During the year-ago period, the company reported 154 days of out-of-service time. source: AP