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November 2010 www.marinelink.com 79 USN Orders DH Barges Metal Trades, Inc. was contracted by Maybank Industries. LLC to build two new types of double hull barges for the U.S. Navy. Three “YON” fuel barges and one Ship Waste Offloading Barge (SWOB) will be built, each type with identical 6,900 barrel capacity cargo and double hull configurations. The ABS classed barges are being designed by Bristol Harbor Group of Bristol, RI to be 180 x 44 ft. Production Engineering serv- ices are being performed by Bluewater Designs, Inc. of Delray Beach, FL. This is the second time that Metal Trades, Maybank Industries, and Bristol Harbor have teamed up to design and build a new type of double hull barge for the U.S. Navy that meets the latest operational re- quirements with full compliance with the Oil Pollution Act of 1990. Compared to the previous contract that built two 14,000 barrel fuel barges for the U.S. Navy, this contract addresses two new re- quirements – a more compact fuel barge design for space-constrained facilities and also a new type of double hull barge to offload and dispose of waste oil from naval vessels. Galveston Pilot Boat Honors Fallen Colleague Galveston has a top speed of 29 knots and the ability to stop within two boat lengths when operating at full speed and make a 360 degree turn while stationary. It measures 70 ft. long and more than 20 ft. wide and was built by Gladding-Hearn Shipbuilding. Galveston is a sister-ship to the Galveston-Texas City pilot boat Texas and was commissioned to replace the Gal-Tex. Texas, also built by Gladding- Hearn has been ably serving the Galve- ston-Texas City Pilots for the past five years. Both the Galveston and the Texas were designed to handle the unique swells and chop of the waters the Galve- ston-Texas City Pilots service on a daily basis. The Galveston-Texas City Pilots christened Galveston as its newest pilot boat on October 9, 2010. On January 20, 2007, in a tragic accident, the Galveston- Texas City Pilot boat Gal-Tex capsized resulting in the loss of Capt. George “Robert” Frazier. Robert was a Galve- ston native and was a pilot boat operator for the Pilots for 17 years. “The first thing he would always say to me is ‘tell me something good,’” said Wallace Hogan, Presiding Officer of the Galve- ston-Texas City Pilots. The Pilots were very fond of Captain Frazier and chose to honor their friend’s life by dedicating the boat to him and his family. Multraship Takes Delivery of New Damen Tug Towage and salvage specialist Multra- ship bolstered its fleet of specialized tugs and multi-purpose vessels with the addi- tion of the Damen newbuilding ASD 3213 tug Multratug 3. On September 30 the vessel embarked on its delivery voy- age from Vietnam, where it was built by Damen Shipyards, to Terneuzen, Multra- ship’s home port in The Netherlands. Thereafter it will be employed principally in the River Scheldt area in a harbor towage and salvage role. With a maxi- mum bollard pull of 94.7 tons, an overall length of 105.4 ft., and a beam of 43.6 ft., the vessel is capable of a speed of 14.3 knots.
