Marcon brokers sale of 1988-built deck barge

The 5,450 dwt chip barge was built as a flat deck barge by West Gulf Marine Works in Galveston, TX in 1988 and brought around to the West Coast by Zidell Marine of Portland, OR. The barge was constructed with ½" plate deck, hull and bottom plate with two longitudinal and six transverse bulkheads forming 21 watertight compartments. In the late 1990s, Dunlap fitted the DT-250 with a 237' long x 65' wide steel chip bin. It installed a new wood wear deck in 2014.

Island Tug & Barge is renaming the barge ITB-253 and plans to shorten the present 22' high bin walls and remove the existing wood wear deck, replacing it with concrete and rebar which will also increase the barge's existing 1,500 lb/sq.ft deck load.

The barge is classed ABS +A1 Barge, Unrestricted Service through February 2018 and carries an International Load Line Certificate.

Marcon acted as sole broker in the sale and has represented the buyers in dozens of sales and purchases. It has also worked with Dunlap for many years and sold its 3,000 HP tug Suiattle earlier this year.

Marcon has brokered twenty-nine sales and charters to date this year, including seven ocean deck barges totaling 34,964 dwt. Several additional sales are pending.