Page 42: of Marine News Magazine (March 2016)

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PUSHBOATS & INLAND TRANSPORT “Marc got together with Brian and with captains and assistant port captains and people who have operated on the river for a long time, and they built a tug that was customized to all our needs. The counter to that is that this tug is not designed for use on the Mississippi. It wouldn’t be effective there. It can’t be used on blue water, so it has no purpose on the ocean. There is nothing that has been built similar to this on any river system in the world.” – Bob Curcio, Tidewater CEO & President

CSR water is extremely cold and – like the Great Lakes, for

CSR: Unique Operational Conditions & Challenges example – doesn’t have any brine in it.

Still, dealing with the locks is a daily challenge. Vessels

The company has continually updated its ? eet by re- traversing the CSR are raised close to 750 feet above sea powering the engines but also by introducing as much new level. In fact, the deepest is the Columbia River John Day and industry-regulated technology as possible. In addition, lock, which lifts 105 feet. The regulated size of the locks is all active petroleum barges have been re? tted with double 650 feet long by 86 feet wide, and Tidewater tows average hulls. “By buying three new tugboats and retiring three, 645’ by 84’, in a one-to-four towboat con? guration. “The we’ll be able to average a ? eet that is less than 21 years old, waterway is also fairly shallow, only 14 feet. Our equip- which is a big change, “says Curcio. “It’s a major invest- ment is made for shallow environments and shallow opera- ment for a company and speaks to the fact that we’re going tion, and that’s fairly unique,” explains Curcio. “There are to be around for a while.” times that the river is running very low, so we could get

March 2016 42 MN

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