Page 33: of Marine News Magazine (December 2020)

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TOP BOATS 2020 n April, Crowley Fuels took delivery of its new Alaska

Class 100,000-barrel, articulated tug and barge (ATB), which will be used to transport petroleum products for

I the Alaska market, from Bollinger Shipyards. The barge

Oliver Leavitt and tug Aveogan pairing form the ? rst ATB in Crowley’s ? eet dedicated to the Alaska market. Crowley will operate the 483-foot ATB under long-term charter for

Alaska-based Petro Star Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of

Arctic Slope Regional Corporation.

The ATB was constructed at the Bollinger Marine Fab- ricators facility in Amelia, La., with on-site construction management by Crowley Shipping, whose subsidiary Jen- sen Maritime designed the ATB to meet Ice Class and Polar

Code requirements. This includes increased structural fram- ing and shell plating and extended zero discharge endur- ance. The double-hulled design also features a barge form factor to achieve high-cargo capacity on minimal draft.

The 7,000-horsepower tug has twin azimuthing drives and an Intercon C-series coupling system with a ? rst-of- its-kind lightering helmet. The tug is ? tted with two GE 8L250 main engines that meet EPA Tier 4 emissions stan- dards. The generators on the tug and barge meet EPA Tier 3 and IMO Tier II emissions standards.

In addition, the ATB features a patent-pending closed loop, freshwater ballast system whereby the tug’s ballast will be transferred to-and-from a retention tank on the barge to account for fuel burn. The design has been ap- proved by the USCG and will eliminate the need to discharge tug ballast water into the sea.

The 128- by 42- by 21- foot tug is equipped with a ? re monitor and foam pro- portioner, providing off-ship ? re? ghting capabilities to the barge. The 400- by 85- by 32-foot barge is also out? tted with spill response gear and a hydraulic boom reel with 2,000 linear feet of in? atable boom to support spill re- sponse efforts. The vessel was built with enhanced features to bene? t the crew, including 156,000 members 45-degree sloped staircases, interior sound deadening and dedicated heads in each cabin.

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