Bay Shipbuilding Company (BSC), Sturgeon Bay, Wis., has been awarded a contract to build two 155,000-bbl. capacity barges and two 6,000-hp tugs for Kirby Corp. The two articulated tug-barge units and will haul petroleum and chemical products domestically.
The first ATB unit is scheduled for delivery in the fall of 2016 and the second unit will be delivered in summer of 2017. In its May earnings call, Kirby said it would cost $125 million to $145 million to build the two units.
Kirby, based in Houston, is the nation’s largest tank barge operator, transporting bulk liquid products throughout the Mississippi River System, the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway, and along all three U.S. coasts and in Alaska and Hawaii. The company now operates several ATB units built by BSC in the mid-2000s.
“Bay Shipbuilding has built 22 ATB units over the past 15 years, and is now under contract for several more," said Todd Thayse, BSC vice president and general manager. "The new business from Kirby, combined with our current ATB orders, will further allow BSC to invest in our infrastructure and it strengthens our backlog position.”
BSC is a subsidiary of Fincantieri Marine Group.
