Golding Barge picks Cat to power first Tier 4 newbuild

Written by Marine Log Staff
Golding Barge logo

Vicksburg, Miss., headquartered tank barge specialist Golding Barge Line has selected triple 3512E Cat engines to power its latest newbuild. Set for delivery in 2024, the boat will be the company’s first built to meet U.S. EPA Tier 4 emission standards.

When starting the design process back in 2021, the company considered all components of the new vessel’s construction – accounting for owning and operating costs in addition to performance and reliability.

“We’re building a boat that we designed from the ground up, and we designed it around what we know,” says Rusty Moore, vice president of operations for Golding Barge. “The efficiency and reliability of the Cat 3500 engine series, which we know very well, was the determining factor in choosing the new boat’s engines.”

The Golding Barge team consulted Cat dealer, Puckett Power Systems, to determine the best engine solution: “Puckett has been really important in our planning and making sure we’re getting the right Cat engine package for the job,” says Moore.

Engine selection was a critical factor. In coordination with Puckett, Moore and the Golding Barge team chose the fuel-efficiency-optimized Cat 3512E engine system. It was the right fit for maximum performance and low operating costs and offered the same powerful, reliable core engine the company has come to count on.

“The 3512 Cat engine in the current configuration is the backbone of our operation,” says Moore. “We like the engine, the performance and the cost to operate. All of those things are heavily weighted toward us staying with the 3512 in our future builds.”

Golding Barge has confidence that, powered by a triple-screw 3512E configuration, its first Tier 4 vessel will move efficiently – in terms of fuel consumption and operating costs – when it takes to the river in 2023.

“This boat is a 40- to 50-year investment and was built with flexibility in mind,” says Moore. “It will be able to push anything from aggregate to oil. We trust that this vessel is going to work a long time.”

Categories: Inland, Inland and Coastal, News Tags: