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September 2010 www.marinelink.com 15 Wendella’s Blount Boat Linnea, the 89-ft. steel excursion boat built by Blount Boats for Wendella Sight- seeing Company, was completed and ac- cepted on July 20, 2010. The boat was delivered to Chicago via Erie Canal and began service on July 30. The delivery for the Linnea is timely on account of the fact that Wendella Sightseeing, Chicago’s original tour boat company is celebrating its 75th season. The new LINNEA was designed by Timothy Graul Marine Design of Stur- geon Bay, Wis., and is a sister vessel to the Wendella built by the Blount shipyard in 2007. It is pow- ered by twin screw Caterpillar engines and will accommodate up to 340 passen- gers for architectural tours on the Chicago River. The two deck vessel was designed with climate controlled main cabin, granite bar top and is equipped with an entertainment and security sys- tem. The new vessel is certified by the U.S. Coast Guard under Subchapter “K” for lakes, bays and sounds less than one mile from shore. The M/V Linnea marks the 330th vessel to be built by the Blount shipyard, which has been in operation since 1949. Floating Power Barge Pair for Venezuela Waller Marine of Houston will launch and christen what will become the world’s largest floating power genera- tion facility when installed at a desig- nated site in Venezuela. The two power barges, which Waller has under con- struction at the Signal International Shipyard in Orange, Texas, will be transferred from their land based con- struction locations to the water during the next few days and christened by Venezuelan dignitaries at a ceremony at the shipyard on August 21. The gener- ation facility, initially comprising two Floating Power Plants each installed with a single GE 7FA gas turbine gen- erator, will be made ready for ocean transport to Tacoa, Venezuela for in- stallation in a prepared basin that will be protected from the sea. The com- pleted plant will generate much needed power to Caracas and surrounding areas. This culminates a Fast Track en- gineering, procurement and construc- tion program undertaken by Waller to design, construct and deliver the two power barges, each having an output of 171 MW (ISO), within 180 days. Con- structed to the approval and survey of ABS, each barge will represent the largest of its kind in the world, accord- ing to the company. This first phase of the facility will surpass the capacity of the Waller designed, 220 MW com- bined cycle floating power plant in- stalled in India in 2001; currently the world’s largest. Waller is now in the early stages of engineering the second phase of the construction program, a 260 MW steam cycle barge that will be fitted with heat recovery steam genera- tors and a 260 MW steam turbine gen- erator that will increase the total floating generating facility capacity to 600 MW. www.wallermarine.com
