Bollinger Delivers Second DH Barge to K-Sea

Bollinger Marine Fabricators, Amelia, La., delivered DBL 81, an 80,000-barrel ocean service, double hull, oil tank barge built to meet the requirements of the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 (OPA '90) to K-Sea Transportation Corp., Staten Island, NY. It is the second of a four OPA '90 barge contract underway at Bollinger for K-Sea. DBL 101, a 100,000 BBL barge, the first of the four was delivered by Bollinger in July, 2002. The remaining two barges in the contract will each have capacities of 80,000 and 100,000 BBL's, and are scheduled for delivery in the second and fourth quarter of 2003. DBL 81 was built to a new design provided by Guarino and Cox naval architects and marine engineers, Mandeville, La., which was adapted from a Richard Taubler Inc. design.

The barge is coupled with an existing K-Sea tug, JAVA SEA, using a connection system designed and delivered by Acomarin Engineering. While the DBL 81 was in the final stages of construction, Bollinger Gulf Repair, L.L.C., retrofitted the JAVA SEA with a JAK coupler system, The Acomarin system is designed to increase operating efficiency and enhance safety and reliability by operating as a dual mode ITB. DBL 81 will feature double block cargo segregation, segregated ballast, cargo monitoring - as well as advanced electrical and hydraulic systems. The unmanned barge features an eight-foot high trunk deck--increasing cargo capacity, and is designed to carry Grade A oil and other petroleum products in ten tanks with capacities from 8312 BBL to 8668 BBL each. Detroit Diesel series 60 engines power cargo and hydraulic pumps and the generator is powered by a Detroit Diesel series 71 engine. The new barge is equipped with a vapor recovery system sized for a maximum loading rate of 17,500 BBL per hour. The barge's two discharge pumps can discharge a total of 9,400 BBL per hour, and the ballast system is outfitted with two Byron Jackson hydraulic deepwell pumps. "The legislation signed by President George H. Bush, in August 1990, and international regulations that followed, requires that nearly all vessels used to transport oil will have double hulls by the year 2020 to help protect against spills caused by hull punctures," said Scott Theriot, executive vice president new construction of Bollinger Shipyards, Inc. "Recent oil spills have focused renewed attention on single hull petroleum vessels and the pertinent legislation thereto. Some interests want that period shortened. Bollinger is in a unique position to build OPA '90 vessels as our multiple shipyards have the design experience, the history of building numerous OPA '90 barges and the production capacity to build several of them simultaneously. As the phase out period gets closer, production capacities will shrink and prices may rise. Now is the time to plan and build to have an orderly transition into the new requirements."