Crowley christens latest 750 Class ATB

SEPTEMBER 28, 2012 — Crowley Maritime Corporation yesterday christened the 16,000-horsepower tugboat Legend and 330,000-barrel tank barge 750-2 at a ceremony in Tampa, Fla.

Together, the vessels comprise the company’s newest articulated-tug-barge (ATB) and will be used to transport petroleum products between the U.S. Gulf and East Coasts, making regular port calls in Tampa where Crowley currently discharges nearly 163 million gallons of product each month.

The Legend/750-2 is the second of three U.S. flag 750 Class ATBs to be built for Crowley.  The first of its class, the Legacy/750-1, pictured at left, was christened in November 2011 and is already at work in the U.S. Gulf Coast. The last of the three, the Liberty/750-3 – is currently under construction and once completed, will be operated in the Jones Act U.S. coastwise trade by Crowley’s petroleum services group, along with the Legacy/750-1 and Legend/750-2. These three new vessels will bring Crowley’s total ATB fleet to 17, including four 155,000-barrel and ten 185,000-barrel ATBs.

The 750-Class barges are 45,000 deadweight tons, 600 feet in length, 105-feet, six-inches in breadth and 54-feet, three-inches in depth. The fully loaded draft is 35 feet.

Both barges, 750-1 and 750-2, were built by VT Halter Marine Inc. at its Pascagoula, Miss., shipyard while the shipbuilder for the tugs Legend and Legacy was by Dakota Creek Industries, Inc. in Anacortes, Wash. The Liberty/750-3 is scheduled for delivery during the first half of 2013.

“We are extremely pleased to add another 750-class ATB to the fleet,” said Crowley Petroleum Services Sr. Vice President and General Manager Rob Grune. “The Legacy/750-1 has proven to perform amazingly well and meet our customers’ needs. We are confident that, like the first of its kind, the Legend/750-2 will also exceed industry standards for the safest possible transportation of petroleum and chemical products.”