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ATB with a hull length of 422? 3?, a mold-ed beam of 76? 8? and a depth amid-ships of 27? 10.? The barge will have a carrying capacity of 83,000 barrels and will be paired with a 4,070 horse- power twin-screw tug. The tug will be 116? long, with a molded beam of 36? and a depth of 16? 9.?Harley Marine plans to build an- other two ATBs. Both of them will be 83,000-barrel tank barges, to be con- structed by Vigor Industrial in 2015. All three ATBs will have technically advanced, environmentally friendly equipment so that the company can continue providing safe, reliable and ef-  cient service, Franco said. ?Our future plans may include building more ATBs to meet growing demand for coastal petroleum transportation,? he said. GLDD Orders a Dredge ATB ATB?s can be  tted for dredging, too. At Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Co. in Illinois, vice president Bill Hanson said last month, ?We?re in the design phase for our  rst hopper dredge ATB, which is scheduled to be delivered in 2016. This will be the  rst dredge of its type ever built, and we?re excited to be in the lead. Its uses will include coastal pro- tection, harbor deepening and channel maintenance projects.? In January, GLDD contracted with Eastern Shipbuilding to build a hopper dredge ATB unit, with a 433? trailing suction hopper dredge barge and 158?- 4? 15,600 BHP, CPP tug. The tug?s engineering details are being done by Ship?s Architect, Inc. and the barge?s de- tails are by Bay Engineering, with both plans based on an OT&BE design. A GLDD contract with Signal In- ternational in August 2012 to build the ATB dredge was terminated. GLDD?s $140 million contract with Eastern compares with $94 million it had agreed to pay Signal. The GLDD dredge will work to restore eroded land along the Gulf Coast, and will deepen and maintain waterways and ports as the nation accommodates larger vessels, especially from the ex- panded Panama Canal, starting in 2015. GLDD owns and operates over 200 specialized vessels, and is the larg- est provider of dredging services in the United States and operates inter- nationally. Outlook: Orders for 2016 to 2017 Abound ? ATBs will continue adjusting to the times, Hill and operators said. The initial appeal of ATBs was that fed- eral regulations allowed them to have relatively small crews. But today most tug and barge customers, particularly major oil companies, are concerned about safety and spills and don?t want to be understaffed. Meanwhile, the industry is considering alternative fu- Robert Hill, President and Chief Naval Architect at Ocean Tug & Barge EngineeringJuly 201434 MNMN July14 Layout 32-49.indd 34MN July14 Layout 32-49.indd 346/20/2014 3:15:49 PM6/20/2014 3:15:49 PM