Dravo-Built Towboats For China Get A Lift From Dock Express

Four 6,000-bhp Mississippi River type towboats were loaded aboard the heavy-lift vessel Dock Express 11 (shown above) at the Port of New Orleans recently for transport to the People's Republic of China, it was announced by Warren R. Wheelock, vice president of Dock Express Shipping, Houston.

Each of the towboats measures approximately 150 feet long, with a beam of 42 feet and height of 58 feet, and weighs about 800 short tons. Two of the boats were floated into the submerged vessel and stowed, stern to stern, inside the dock hold. The remaining two boats were lifted aboard by two floating cranes provided by Avondale Shipyards and Bisso Marine of New Orleans, and stowed side by side amidships. The 10,082- mile voyage, via the Panama Canal, was expected to take about 34 days to complete.

This is the first sale of towboats of this type to the People's Republic of China. Dravo Corporation of Pittsburgh designed and built the boats, and Transoceanic Shipping Company of New Orleans was the agent and freight forwarder for Dravo.

Dock Express Shipping bv is a specialized heavy-lift shipowner based in Rotterdam, with North American headquarters in Houston at 3050 South Post Oak Road, Suite 1770, 77056; (713) 626-0405.

Maritime Reporter Magazine, page 20, Jul 1981

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Maritime Reporter

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