Harley Marine Receives Tank Barge

By Mark Edward Nero

The Vigor Fab shipyard in Portland, Oregon has delivered the tank barge Fight ALS to Harley Marine Gulf. The vessel is to join Harley’s offshore fleet working the Gulf and East Coast to transport petroleum products, specifically gasoline and distillates.

The barge has a length of 422 feet, a beam of 76 feet, eight inches, and a depth of 27 feet. The barge includes 12 separate cargo tanks and has the ability to pump cargo at 10,000 barrels per hour. A nitrogen-generating tank inerting system is fitted, and all pump and auxiliary engines meet Tier 3 standards.

The 83,000-bbl tank barge was designed by architectural and engineering company Elliott Bay Design Group. EBDG’s scope for the project, according to project manager Mike Complita, included the complete ABS design and approval package, as well as structural lofting and systems detail drawings.

It is the third 83,000-bbl ATB tank barge recently designed by EBDG and built for Harley Marine, with the sister barges being Dr. Robert J. Beall and Fight Fanconi Anemia.

“We have enjoyed a long relationship with Elliott Bay Design Group and have had great success working with them on the new build designs and their complete customer service mission,” Harley Marine Services Vice President of Marine Operations Keith Barnes said.

Nichols Bros. Building Landing Craft for American Samoa

By Mark Edward Nero

Freeland, Wash.-based Nichols Brothers Boat Builders has selected Elliott Bay Design Group of Seattle to provide the design and production engineering for the construction of a new freight and passenger vessel for American Samoa, an unincorporated territory in the southeast Pacific Ocean.

The proposed vessel, which is a 140-foot landing craft, is designed with a beam of 38 feet, depth of 13 feet, and to accommodate up to eight crewmembers overnight. The boat will be one of a small number available to transport local residents between the five Samoan islands. Until recently, most of those vessels served the immediate community, but the new landing craft, which will be able to carry a total of 149 passengers, will also be available for tourists.

This is not the first collaboration between the two Washington companies. Last year, Nichols Brothers Boat Builders contracted EBDG to complete the production engineering for the 150-foot-long landing craft, which the yard delivered late last year. The vessel is operated by Bowhead Transport in Alaska.

“We are very happy to be working with EBDG again on another landing craft project,” Nichols Brothers CEO Gavin Higgins said.

“We’re excited about this new project and to be working with (Nichols Brothers) once again,” Mike Complita, EBDG’s Vice President of Shipyard Services said. “We look forward to making this job a successful one.”

Vigor Completes Ferry Repowering

By Mark Edward Nero

A repower of the M/V Columbia ferry has been completed in Portland by Vigor Marine, according to Seattle-based naval architecture and marine engineering firm Elliott Bay Design Group (EBDG).
 

EBDG, which has a long history of assisting ferry operators with services such as transportation studies, concept designs, capital budgets, security improvements and mid-life refurbishments, provided design services and ongoing owner support services for the M/V Columbia’s repower.

The Columbia was designed by EBDG’s predecessor firm Lockheed Shipbuilding, for the Alaska Marine Highway System, a ferry service operated by the Alaska state government.

“We’re intimately familiar with the vessel and its systems,” EBDG Project Manager Matt Williamson said. “The main engines were at the end of their useful life and the AMHS opted for replacing them, along with replacing or upgrading drive train components and auxiliary systems where it made economic sense.”

Williamson said that EBDG’s strong familiarity with the Columbia made his company “the natural choice” as the designer for this repowering project.

The Columbia has been the Alaska Marine Highway System’s flagship vessel for nearly 40 years, linking a number of inside passage communities. The 418-foot vessel can accommodate 625 passengers and features two vehicle decks with capacity for 134 vehicles.

Its homeport is in Ketchikan, Alaska.

Elliott Bay Design Wins Ferry Contract

By Mark Edward Nero

Seattle-based naval architecture and marine engineering firm Elliott Bay Design Group has been selected by the New York Department of Transportation to design a new class of ferries that will operate between Staten Island and Manhattan.

The project scope consists of a complete design package, including contract drawings, specifications and other documents for vessels to replace the existing Barberi and Kennedy Class ferries. Also included in the scope are modifications to the existing Molinari Class ferries to retrofit a new propulsion system, something the city says is necessary to establish consistency between the new ferries and those that will remain in the fleet.

“We’re excited to get the project underway,” EBDG Project Manager Matt Williamson said. “We’re looking forward to developing a vessel design that meets the need of the Staten Island Ferry on all fronts – economical to construct, efficient to operate and providing safe and reliable service to the people of New York.”

EBDG previously served as sub-contractor as part of a KPFF consulting engineers project team that performed a preliminary design investigation to ascertain the needs of a future ferry fleet. The results determined that reconstructing the fleet's older classes of boats wasn’t economically feasible. Instead, the investigation recommended the design of new double-ended ferry boats with overall passenger capacity of 4,500 and cycloidal propulsion.

US Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-NY) has said that in the wake of damage from Superstorm Sandy in 2012, ferries are a key part of a more modern and resilient regional infrastructure because of their ability to begin service immediately after a storm, given the proper landing equipment.

NYC DOT is expected to apply for a $267 million grant from the Federal Transit Administration Sandy Resilience Program to help pay for the ferries, which will cost an estimated $309 million to build.

Vigor Wins Tank Barge Construction Contract

By Mark Edward Nero

Vigor Fab, the industrial fabrication and new-build division of Vigor Industrial, has been awarded a contract to build two 83,000-barrel tank barges for Harley Marine Services.

Construction is expected to begin this month at Vigor’s 60-acre shipyard in Portland, which has an 800-foot buildway, a 600-ton gantry crane and 360,000 square feet of covered fabrication areas.

The 422-foot by 76-foot by 27-foot tank barges were designed by Elliott Bay Design Group and are to be among the largest vessels constructed for Harley Marine’s fleet. Vigor also built the Sixty-Five Roses tank barge, which is about the same size as the new barges and currently the largest vessel in Harley’s Portland fleet.

“These vessels will be the ninth and tenth we’ve built for Harley Marine,” Vigor Sales and Marketing Manager Bryan Nichols said. “We’re glad we could earn this opportunity to help Harley expand their fleet. There’s no higher compliment than repeat business.”

Keith Barnes, Harley Marine’s Director of Petroleum Barge Operations, said Vigor has been “an excellent partner” in barge building over the years.

“They consistently provide the quality craftsmanship we depend on to serve our customers,” he said.

The first tank barge is scheduled for delivery in spring 2015, according to Vigor, with the second barge set for delivery in the summer of 2015.