North American owners of tugs and towboats working along inland waterways are renewing ageing fleets in confidence the market is recovering from historic lows
US owners have ordered articulated tug-barge (ATB) units over the past two years for operations along North America’s inland waterways.
Kirby Corp, with an inland fleet of 309 towing vessels and 1,060 barges in North America, is leading the way in fleet investment. It has a US$220-250M expenditure programme for renewal and expansion, with 16 vessels on order.
Kirby transports petrochemical feedstocks, black oil, pressurised products, chemicals and refined products on inland barges. A unit tow on the canal typically consists of one to three barges pushed by a towboat and a river unit tow includes two to six barges pushed by a towboat.
Its coastal services involve an ATB transporting refined products and black oil on barges around North American coasts.
Kirby president and chief executive David Grzebinski believes the inland towage market will continue to rebound into 2020. “Our marine business continues to have strong fundamentals and is expected to continue to improve,” he says. “The long-term outlook for Kirby remains positive.”
This brighter market expectation comes from the strength of the US economy and increasing domestic production and manufacturing levels. “In the inland marine transportation market, strong customer activity and growing volumes from petrochemical complexes are expected to yield barge utilisation levels in the mid-90% range, as well as higher pricing,” says Mr Grzebinski.
His optimism is based on the inland towage fleet’s improved performance during the first nine months of this year. He expects “improved operating efficiencies on contracts of affreightment” with “operating margins improving modestly” and sequential rises in revenues.
There is also optimism for the coastal market where “pricing is expected to continue to improve modestly on contract renewals” says Mr Grzebinski. Kirby operates almost 50 ATBs along the US east, south and west coasts.
For fleet renewal, Kirby is investing US$40-45M in progress payments this year on three 3,330-kW powered coastal ATB tugboats and 13 inland towboats with 1,940 kW of power. Kirby is also spending between US$155-165M in upgrades and improvements to existing inland and coastal marine equipment. This includes US$20M on ballast water treatment systems for its coastal ATBs.
At the end of 2018, Kirby took delivery of an ATB unit incorporating tug Ronnie Murph and 158-m long barge, Kirby 155-03, from Fincantieri Bay Shipbuilding, the third ATB newbuilding from the shipyard to Kirby in three years.
Kirby has also sold ATB tugs it does not want to upgrade or cannot secure charters against. In October, Marcon International reported Kirby Offshore Marine sold twin-screw articulated pusher tug Java Sea to private buyers in Texas. This vessel was phased out of active service in 2017.
In Canada, Tidewater subsidiary Island Tug and Barge (ITB) started operating its newest ATB in response to rising demand for oil transportation along the western coast and rivers.
It has paired new ATB tug Island Regent with double-hulled oil tank barge ITB Reliant to transport refined petroleum products.
It was built at ITB’s Annacis Island Shipyard, along the Fraser River in British Columbia and completed by Nichols Brothers Boat Builders at Whidbey Island, in Washington State, US.
This tug-barge combination is similar to the first new ATB unit, Island Raider tug and ITB Resolution barge, which started operations in Q4 2018.
At the naming ceremony in June, Tidewater president and chief executive Bob Curcio said Island Regent and ITB Reliant “represent a significant milestone in ITB’s capabilities to serve our customers better than ever”.
These 24-m tugs were designed by Robert Allan and each has 1,268 kW of power. They are equipped with two Cummins KTA38M engines, which each develop 634 kW at 1,800 rpm.
In the US, Canal Barge Co (CBC) purchased five towboats from Pine Bluff Sand and Gravel. This is part of CBC’s strategy to expand its transportation of dry and liquid cargoes. It is acquiring three towboats of 4,475 kW power – Don Boling, Gerald Majors and Bill Atkinson – plus two towboats with retractable wheelhouse and 1,340 kW of power – George Rowe and Bill Rodgers.
In another October deal, Mavericks Towboat Solutions, a joint venture between James Marine and Inland Marine Service (IMS) has acquired seven harbour vessels from Ingram Barge Co. In September, IMS started operating five large line-haul towboat vessels owned by American River Transportation Co and 20 inland waterway towboats owned by Tennessee Valley Towboats.
Shipyard orders
US shipyards secured the following newbuilding contracts for inland towage vessels and ATBs this year. Conrad Industries’ shipyard in Morgan City started constructing a second inland towboat designed by New Orleans-headquartered MiNO Marine in August. The shipyard has orders from two unnamed customers for these vessels.
These towboats will be 51 m long, with 15 m beam and optimised hulls for improved performance. Conrad will equip these MiNO towboats with propulsion power of 4,475 kW. One will have a pair of GE engines and the other will have EMD engines.
These tugs will comply with US Coast Guard Subchapter M requirements and the engines will comply with the US Environmental Protection Agency’s Tier 4 emissions rules. Conrad anticipates more contracts for these MiNO-designed towboats in the future.
MiNo said the hullform was developed through extensive engineering analysis using computational fluid dynamics. This resulted in an efficient hull, suitable for a wide range of operating conditions while also minimising potential for flow-induced vibrations.
Naval architects carried out extensive structural vibration analyses using finite element techniques to minimise resonant structural vibrations for better crew comfort.
Earlier this year, Conrad completed a series of Kāpena-class tugs for Foss Maritime subsidiary Young Brothers, with the delivery of Kāpena Bob Purdy. It also completed the third Assateague-class ATB tugs for Vane Brothers.
Eastern Shipbuilding completed Brian Boudreaux in May, the first of four inland towboats it is constructing for Florida Marine Transporters. It was built at Eastern’s Allanton facility in Florida using a Gilbert Associates design.
Brian Boudreaux is the first newbuilding vessel of this series to be issued a Sub-M Certificate of Inspection from the US Coast Guard. The other three will be built to the same standard and are scheduled for delivery between Q4 2019 and 2020.
When all four are completed, Florida Marine Transporters will operate 70 vessels in the US, towing tank barges with cargoes of petrochemicals, chemicals, LPG, crude oil, agricultural liquids and dry cargo.
Brian Boudreaux is powered by two Caterpillar 3512C Tier 3 diesel engines, rated at 1,120 kW at 1,600 rpm, supplied by Louisiana CAT Power Systems. The reduction gears are direct coupled Twin-Disc model MG-5600 with a 6.04:1 reduction supplied by Stewart Supply.
Electrical power is provided by two 99-kW John Deere 4045AFM85 Tier 3 generator sets rated for 60 Hz at 208 V alternating current, provided by Kennedy Engine Co.
Bollinger Shipyards and VT Halter Marine together built an ATB that complies with EPA Tier 4 requirements for Bouchard Transportation Co. VT Halter Marine’s Pascagoula Shipyard built tug Evening Breeze with total power of 2,980 kW, an overall length of 34.5 m and breadth of 10.6 m. It is linked to 96-m petroleum transportation Barge No 252, which Bollinger built with 55,000 barrels capacity, via an Intercon coupler system.
In July, C&C Marine and Repair completed triple-screw towboat Mendota for Upper River Services. This vessel has three Caterpillar C18, Acert marine diesel engines and two John Deere 4045T Power Tech diesel driven generators. Mendota was built for navigating the shallow waterways and narrow passages along the Mississippi and Minnesota rivers.
Southwest Shipyard is building a series of four towboats for Devall Towing & Boat Service. The first of these, Ryder James Devall, was delivered in Q1 2019 and the second, Valle Devall in July. These vessels have Tier 3 Cummins QSK-19 engines, Twin Disc MG5222 gears and Sound 76 propellers. They were designed by Advanced Fabricating and built at the Brady Island extension shipyard in Houston.
Inland waterway tug deliveries 2019 |
Tug name |
tug owner |
delivered |
shipyard |
nation |
Ronnie Murph |
Kirby Corp |
Q1 2019 |
Fincantieri Bay |
US |
Ryder James Devall |
Devall Towing |
Q1 2019 |
Southwest |
US |
Nibulon-8 |
Nibulon |
Q1 2019 |
Nibulon |
Ukraine |
Ishin |
Mitsui Nihon Tugboat |
Q1 2019 |
Kanagawa Dockyard |
Japan |
Wachapreague |
Vane Brothers |
Q1 2019 |
Conrad |
US |
Evening Breeze |
Bouchard Transportation |
Q1 2019 |
VT Halter |
US |
Nibulon-9 |
Nibulon |
Q1 2019 |
Nibulon |
Ukraine |
Nibulon-10 |
Nibulon |
Q2 2019 |
Nibulon |
Ukraine |
Brian Boudreaux |
Florida Marine |
Q2 2019 |
Eastern Shipbuilding |
US |
Trewenna |
Silverburn Shipping |
Q2 2019 |
Tecia Bodewes |
Caspian |
Nibulon-11 |
Nibulon |
Q2 2019 |
Nibulon |
Ukraine |
Mendota |
Upper River Services |
Q2 2019 |
C&C Marine |
US |
Island Regent |
Island Tug & Barge |
Q2 2019 |
ITB’s Annacis yard |
Canada |
G Brooks Sperry |
Maritime Partners |
Q3 2019 |
Bludworth |
US |
Velle Devall |
Devall Towing |
Q3 2019 |
Southwest |
US |
NGL newbuild |
NGL Marine |
Q3 2019 |
Westpoint Orange |
US |
Suncor 11 |
Groupe Ocean |
Q3 2019 |
Ocean Marine Works |
Canada |
Tom Marquis |
Marquis Energy |
Q3 2019 |
Superior Marine |
US |
HB Pirarara |
Hidrovias do Brasil |
Q3 2019 |
Estaleiro Rio Maguari |
Brazil |
HB Pirarucu |
Hidrovias do Brasil |
Q3 2019 |
Estaleiro Rio Maguari |
Brazil |
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