Page 8: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (January 1969)

Total Transport System The Ohio River Company Dedicates The Ohio River Company, East-ern's barge subsidiary, includes the movement of wet phosphate by unit train to Tampa, terminal han-dling, and transportation across the Gulf of Mexico. The other elements of the total transportation service are two 26,-000-ton barges, Freeport 1 & 2, and two 5,000-hp tugs, Alison C. and Theresa F. They will be operated by Red Circle Transport Co., an affiliate of The Ohio River Com-pany. For the next 15 years, the barges and tugs are committed to trans-port up to 2^4-million tons of phos-phate rock yearly from Tampa to Freeport's new plant. Each tug and barge unit will make the 540-mile trip from Tampa to Uncle Sam, La., and back to Tampa in approxi-mately seven days. The 22-acre phosphate terminal was designed and built by McDow-ell-Wellman Engineering Company of Cleveland and incorporates sev-eral new concepts in phosphate handling, including the first use in the industry of an automated rotary rail car dump that can unload a 65-car unit train in less than four hours; combined stacker-reclaimers that move material to or from stor-age at the rate of 3,000 tons per hour, and a traveling shiploader. The terminal's dock is 530 feet long and is supported by 30-foot-diameter cells. The terminal 'floats' without foundations on filled land resulting from a harbor dredging project of the Tampa Port Author-ity. The barges are 472 feet long, 80 feet wide, 42 feet deep and have an World's fastest ohosphate loading terminal with 26,000-dwt barges and 5,000-hp tugs ready for service. Dedication and christening cere-monies held recently in Tampa, Fla., for the world's fastest phos-phate loading terminal and large oceangoing tugs and barges mark-ed the formal opening of a novel raw material transport system for Florida phosphate. Developed by the barge opera-tions of Eastern Gas and Fuel As-sociates, Boston, for the Freeport Sulphur Company, the system provides dependable, economical, large-volume movement of phos-phate rock from Florida across the Gulf of Mexico to Freeport's new agricultural chemical plant in Uncle Sam, La. The single-responsibility 'trans-portation package' put together by Cutting the ribbon officially opening the new highly automated bulk cargo terminal is Brig. Gen. Charles C. Noble, director of civil works, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, assisted by L. R. Fiore, president of The Ohio River Company. Tug Alison C. and Freeport 1 leave on first trip from new terminal with a full load. operating draft of 30 feet. They fea-ture the first marine use of 'rotary plow feeding' for the self-discharg-ing system. The barges were de-signed by Marine Consultants & Designers, Inc., Cleveland, and built at the Avondale Shipyard, New Orleans. The tugs have an overall length of 145 feet, a beam of 35 feet, and a 17-foot operating draft. Each tug has two pilothouses, with the up-per constructed of aluminum. Pow-er is provided by two 2,500-hp Gen-eral Motors 16-cylinder 645 turbo-charged diesel engines. Both tugs were designed by Design Associ-ates, Xew Orleans, and built at the McDermott Shipyard, Morgan City, La. Christening party for Red Circle Transport Company's new tugs and barges, left to right: L. R. Fiore, president, The Ohio River Company; Mrs. Fiore; C. A. Coolidge, trustee, Eastern Gas and Fuel Associates, Boston; Mrs. Coolidge, sponsor of tug Alison C.; R. H. Feierabend, vice-president, Freeport Chemical Company, Uncle Sam, La.; Mrs. Feiera-bend, sponsor of barge Freeport 1; R. L. Williams, vice-president, Freeport Sulphur Com-pany, New Orleans, La.; Mrs. Williams, sponsor of barge Freeport 2; Herman N. Finkel-stein, trustee of Eastern Gas and Fuel; Mrs. Finkelsfein, sponsor of tug Theresa F.; Eli Goldston, president, Eastern Gas and Fuel Associates, and Mrs. Goldston.