MARKETS: BARGE REPORT Gunderson Delivers Heavy Lift Deck Barge for Crowley
Crowley's newest heavy-lift series deck barge, 455-5, was christened and launched May 16 at Gunderson Marine Shipyard in Portland, Ore. the latest of a string of new vessel deliveries for Crowley this year. Barge 455-5 is 400 ft long by 105 ft wide. Crowley has plans to build a total of up to 13 of these high-capacity barges by 2013. The heavy-lift 455 series deck barges, with 25 ft side shells, provide both the capacity and deck strength needed to accommodate larger drilling and production units used for deepwater offshore energy exploration and development. They provide increased stability for loads
The first in Crowley's 455 barge series, the Marty J (455-1), at work in the Gulf of Mexico
up to 4,200 lbs per sq ft. Christened by Mary Beth Davis, the wife of Rich Davis, the BP manager for the Liberty Rig, barge 455-5 will be used to transport the world's largest land based drilling rig for Parker Drilling and BP to operate in Alaska's North Slope at Satellite
Drilling Island (SDI). The christening was also an opportunity for Gunderson to celebrate its longstanding partnership with Crowley. The 455-5 is the 42nd Crowley barge built at Gunderson yard. To commemorate the occasion, Gunderson made a generous donation on behalf of Crowley to Hogar de Protecci�n Pajarito Azul (The Little Blue Bird Home), a Nicaraguan charity that provides housing for disabled and abandoned children. Construction of the 455-6, the next barge in the series, is currently underway and is expected to be delivered by Gunderson this summer.
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June 2009
40 MN