Page 11: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (October 1978)

How much of your hopper barge fleet is obsolete!

How much of your fleet is ten years old or older? How much is fifteen years old or older?

Why not take a few minutes and determine the average age of your fleet. The results might surprise you.

Those ten- and fifteen-year anniversaries are important dates.

Here's why. Generally, mainte- nance records will show a heavy increase in annual costs at the ten- year mark, and an even more sub- stantial increase at the fifteen-year mark.

What kinds of substantial costs?

It could be side damage on the hull at the wind/water line. Or it could be years of service beginning to take their toll on slopesheets and coaming.

And rising maintenance costs aren't the only cost increases you face.

The cost of new barges is in- creasing, too. With the cost of steel and the other materials con- tinuing to rise, the most economical decision would be to replace obsolete barges now.

And when those replacements are Jeffboat-built barges, you're getting heavier, better con- structed, truly-crafted vessels that will deliver extra years of profitable service.

Number of barges Year built Age Percent of total fleet

America's largest inland shipbuilder.

P.O. Box610

Jeffersonville, Indiana 47130

Phone: (812) 288-0100

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