Vane Bros. Continues Fleet Expansion

 

The Hudson is the second of eight vessels in Vane’s Elizabeth Anne Class of 4,200‐horsepower tugboats contracted through St. Johns Ship Building in Palatka, Fla. The Elizabeth Anne was delivered in January, while the third in the series, the Baltimore, is scheduled for completion this summer.

 

The Double Skin 601 is the first in a new series of 55,000-barrel barges and will be followed later this year by the Double Skin 602. Both barges are products of the Conrad Deepwater South Shipyard in Amelia, La.

 

According to Vane Brothers President C. Duff Hughes, “Our ongoing Fleet Construction Program ensures that we have state-of-the-art equipment available to service all of our customers’ needs with the utmost safety and efficiency. We are thrilled with the quality of tugboats coming out of St. Johns Ship Building and the barges being built by Conrad.”

 

Designed by Frank Basile, P.E., of Entech Designs, LLC, Vane Brothers’ Elizabeth Anne Class tugboats are a close cousin of the company’s Basile‐designed Patapsco Class tugboats, 15 of which were produced between 2004 and 2009. Measuring 100 feet long and 34 feet wide, with a hull depth of 15 feet, the model-bow Hudson utilizes two Caterpillar 3516 Tier 3 engines, each generating 2,100 horsepower at 1,600 rpm. Two John Deere PowerTech 4045, 99 kW generators deliver service power to the boat, while a third John Deere 4045 teamed with an Allison transmission drives the chain-driven INTERCON DD200 towing winch. The Hudson features the latest in solid‐state, Simrad electronics and handsomely appointed, mahogany upper and lower pilothouses, as well as spacious accommodations for up to seven crewmembers.

 

The Double Skin 601 is configured and outfitted in a nearly identical fashion to the most recent 55,000-barrel Vane Brothers barges that were delivered in 2015 by the Indiana‐based Jeffboat Shipyard. Like the Double Skin 601, the Double Skin 501, DS-503, DS‐505 and DS‐507 are equipped with the same 8.6MM BTU thermal fluid heating system, vapor control system and cargo tanks coated with International Interline 994 Epoxy Novolac. However, the Double Skin 601 has a raised forecastle bow design, which provides additional reserve buoyancy.

 

Primarily tasked with towing petroleum barges engaged in the North Atlantic coastwise trade, the Hudson has joined the Elizabeth Anne among more than 20 vessels that are part of Vane’s Delta Fleet, based in Philadelphia. The DS-601 is also a new Delta Fleet member.