VT Halter Marine complete 10-unit ATB contract

VT Halter Marine, Inc. has delivered the final articulated tug barge (ATB) unit in a series of ten built for Crowley Maritime Corporation’s subsidiary, Vessel Management Services, Inc. Since construction of the first unit in 2005, all ten 185,000-barrel barges have been built at VT Halter Marine’s Pascagoula Operations while the 9,700-hp tugs were built at its Moss Point Marine Operations.

Barge 650-10, like its sister vessels (650-1 thru 650-9), is certified by ABS  to comply with the International Maritime IMO Green Passport program. Additionally, 650-10 has a Crude Oil Washing (COW) system whereby oil tanks are cleaned out with crude oil, instead of water; which makes the cleaning process far more effective. The COW system is mandatory on new tankers under the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution by Ships (the MARPOL Convention). All of Crowley’s ATBs are built under the ABS SafeHull program for environmental protection.

The 650-Class barge measures 587 feet in length, 74 feet in breadth, and 40 feet in depth. It has a fully-loaded draft of 30 feet and a 27,000 dwt capacity.

VT Halter Marine has a separate contract with Vessel Management Services to design and build three 330,000-barrel, 750 series ATB barges.

“We are pleased to take delivery of the tenth ATB in this program,” said Ed Schlueter, Vice President, Vessel Management Services, Crowley Maritime. “These vessels represent the very successful partnership established between VT Halter Marine and Crowley through the past years and we look forward to continuing this relationship with the deliveries to come in the next series of vessels.”

“The delivery of the tenth 650 Class ATB is a significant milestone for VT Halter Marine,” said  Bill Skinner, Chief Executive Officer, VT Halter Marine. “We are proud of our long standing partnership with Crowley–a professional and well respected company–and look forward to also delivering the series of 750 Class ATBs.”

Seated, left to right: Ed Schlueter, VP, Vessel Management Services, Crowley Maritime; GEN (Ret.) John G. Coburn, CEO and Chairman, VT Systems; Bill Skinner, CEO, VT Halter Marine.

Standing, left to rIght: Sid Mizell, Senior VP, Business Development, VT Halter Marine; Ray Martus, Director, New Construction, Vessel Management Services, Crowley Maritime; Patrick Sperry, Manager, New Construction, Vessel Management Services, Crowley Maritime; Rick Zubic, VP, Business Development, VT Halter Marine.

July 19, 2011