Tampa Bay Shipbuilding Gets Orders for Barges

Overseas Shipholding Group Inc., the company that bought Maritrans Inc., said it will build three articulated tug barges, each with a construction value of about $90m. The barges will be constructed at Tampa Bay Shipbuilding & Repair Co., while the tug boats will be constructed at Bender Shipbuilding & Repair Co. in Mobile, Ala., according to a release from Overseas Shipholding. Tampa Bay Shipbuilding, which is an affiliate of Bender and located at the Port of Tampa, previously handled projects for Tampa-based Maritrans, which was sold in November for $455 million. A call to Tampa Bay Shipbuilding for additional details was pending. The barges will have a carrying capacity of about 290,000 barrels. Each barge will be connected to a 12,000 horsepower tug boat and will be capable of carrying refined petroleum products as well as crude oil within the U.S. Jones Act market, the release said. The units are scheduled to be delivered from late 2009 through late 2010. Overseas Shipholding, based in New York, is one of the largest publicly traded tanker companies in the world and a market leader in global energy transportation services for crude oil and petroleum products. Source: Tampa Bay Business Journal