Bollinger Delivers ATB to Bouchard

Bollinger Shipyards, Inc. of Lockport, Louisiana and Bollinger Gretna L.L.C., Harvey, La., have delivered the articulated tug/barge (ATB) unit, tug Linda Lee Bouchard and barge B. No. 205 to Bouchard Coastwise Management Corp., Melville, N.Y.

The double hull, ocean going asphalt, residual fuel oil Barge B. No. 205, built at Bollinger Gretna meets the requirements of the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 (OPA’90) and is rated for 110,000 BBLs of product in sixteen cargo tanks. B. No. 205 measures 430-ft. long, with a 79-ft. beam and a depth of 34 ft., and is constructed with a flat deck, as are all, of Bouchard double hull vessels. The barge is certified ABS +1 Oil Tank Barge, USCG Manned Ocean Service, US flagged for grade A and lower petroleum products. The vessel is outfitted with three John Deere cargo pump engines, three SC Engineering cargo pumps and three John Deere generator units. Product temperature is maintained with two 12,000,000 BTU thermal fluid heaters, and tank gauging is monitored with the Bergan Radar system, and vessel is equipped with vapor recovery. The engineering, fabrication and construction of the barge were a joint effort between three Bollinger locations, with Bollinger Lockport engineering providing design support, Bollinger Marine Fabricators providing panel construction, and Bollinger Gretna building the unit. The B. No. 205 is the thirteenth OPA’90 tank barge to come out of the Bollinger Gretna location. This addition to the Bouchard fleet will give Bouchard fourteen OPA’90 barges in their fleet. The Linda Lee Bouchard named in honor of the wife of president and chief executive officer of Bouchard Affiliates, Morton S. Bouchard lII, is a 6,140 hp, 130 x 38 x 22 ft. oceangoing tug. The vessel is outfitted with the Intercon Coupler System and tow winch. The vessel is ABS certified for Oceans trade, ABS Class +A1+AMS Full Oceans and SOLAS. The main engines are two EMD 16/645/F7BA turbo charged units rated for 3070 horse power each. The four generators, three primary and one emergency, are powered by John Deere Tier II compliant engines rated at 99kW and 65kW, respectively. The next Bouchard hull coming out of Bollinger Gretna will be an 80,000 BBL OPA’90 tank barge, B. No. 282, sister to the B. No. 280 that Bollinger delivered in May, 2006.