Quality Shipyards Delivers Third Pushboat In Series of Three To Ashland Oil Company

Quality Shipyards, Houma, La., recently delivered the 4,200-hp pushboat SuperAmerica, the third in a series of three new vessels built for Ashland Oil, Lexington, Ky. The three pushboats replaced towboats that were all more than 40 years old.

Ashland invested about $3.5 million for each boat to modernize its fleet. Ashland already operates the largest fleet of tank barges on the inland waterways.

The SuperAmerica has an overall length of 150 feet and breadth of 45 feet and has accommodations for 17.

Her normal crew complement is 10.

The 4,200-hp inland towboat is powered by a pair of Caterpillar 3606 diesel engines. The Cat 3606 is one of a series of new large displacement engines that are offered in six, eight, or 12-cylinder versions. Designed to operate on number two or heavier grade fuel oil, the 3606s are making their new boat debut in the SuperAmerica and her sister vessels, the Valvoline and Paul B. Blazer.

Intake air for the two main engines is filtered by high-efficiency Amer-Kleen filters.

Two 155-kw generators, each powered by a Caterpillar 3306TA, insure ample electronical power for the boat.

The rest of the drive package consists of Falk 24MR40 reduction gears with a ratio 4.48:1 turning 105- inch Columbian Bronze five-bladed propellers. For added low-speed power, the propellers are fitted with Kort nozzles.

Some of the navigation and communications equipment featured are the SuperAmerica includes two Standard Horizon VHF radios, a Motorola SSB radio, two Sperry Marine radars, and an Elac depth sounder.

The SuperAmerica has impressive tank capacities, holding about 100,000 gallons of fuel oil, 10,000 gallons of potable water, 10,000 gallons of wash water, 3,000 gallons of lube oil and 30,000 gallons of ballast water.

The SuperAmerica along with her sister ships, the Valvoline and the Paul G. Blazer, should help Ashland Oil meet their customer demands in a very competitive market.

For free literature detailing the boatbuilding facilities of Quality Shipyards, Circle 64 on Reader Service Card

Maritime Reporter Magazine, page 10, Mar 1988

Read Quality Shipyards Delivers Third Pushboat In Series of Three To Ashland Oil Company in Pdf, Flash or Html5 edition of March 1988 Maritime Reporter

Other stories from March 1988 issue

Content

Maritime Reporter

First published in 1881 Maritime Reporter is the world's largest audited circulation publication serving the global maritime industry.