ATB dedicated to Alaska fuels service joins Crowley’s fleet

 Crowley Fuels LLC, wholesale fuel transportation and sales division of US-based Crowley Maritime, took delivery of its new Alaska Class 100,000-barrel, articulated tug-barge (ATB) from Bollinger Shipyards.

The vessel will be used to transport multiple clean petroleum products for the Alaska market and it will be operated by Crowley for Alaska-based Petro Star Inc under a long-term charter.

Crowley Shipping’s petroleum services group will operate the ATB on behalf of Crowley Fuels.

The ATB is the first in Crowley’s fleet to be dedicated to the Alaska market. The barge is named Oliver Leavitt, in honor of ASRC’s former chairman and current member of the corporation’s board of directors, with the tug bearing the name Aveogan, Leavitt’s Iñupiat name. 

The ATB was constructed at the Bollinger Marine Fabricators facility in Amelia, La., and Jensen Maritime, Crowley Shipping’s Seattle-based naval architecture and marine engineering subsidiary, designed the ATB to meet Ice Class and Polar Code requirements.

These features include increased structural framing and shell plating and extended zero discharge endurance. The double-hulled design also features a barge form factor to achieve high-cargo capacity on minimal draft.

“The new vessel’s advanced design and environmental protection features mark a new era for fuel transportation services in Alaska,” said Rick Meidel, vice president and general manager, Crowley Fuels Alaska.

The tug has Azimuthing drives to enhance maneuverability, and an Intercon C-series coupling system with a first-of-its-kind lightering helmet. The tug is fitted with two GE 8L250 main engines that meet U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Tier 4 emissions standards. The generators on the tug and barge meet EPA Tier 3 and IMO Tier II emissions standards.

In addition, the ATB features a patent-pending closed-loop, freshwater ballast system whereby the tug’s ballast will be transferred to-and-from a retention tank on the barge to account for fuel burn.  The design has been approved by the USCG and will eliminate the need to discharge tug ballast water into the sea. 

The tug is equipped with a fire monitor and foam proportioner, providing off-ship firefighting capabilities to the barge. The barge is also outfitted with spill response gear and a hydraulic boom reel with 2,000 linear feet of inflatable boom to support spill response efforts.

The ATB was designed under the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) Convention and it will be classed with the American Bureau of Shipping (ABS).