That may be a part of my problem…i have experience with jak and articouple only. I have heard nothing negative about the intercon system from folks i have met with experience with it.
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ATBs often have barges with ballast which is its own headache among others. Wire boat’s operating weather parameters are broader. I totally understand why towing on the wire has continued utility.
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Cheaper is the word you are looking for. It’s all about dollars and sense.
Some companies look for absolute bottom dollar for freight rates. Others use sense and sensibility. It does absolutely no good to be publicly chasing a wayward petroleum barge (or any barge for that matter) in this day, age, time of litigious court room based defense of our industry.
I have been retired for quite some time but went through the whole evolution. If I were still sailing, would pursue a rig that has Intercon. It performs almost as well as a ship, but smaller crew and cheaper build cost. Very good concept when managed well.
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On my ATB, 150k bbl, Barge was unmanned. 3rd Mate/2nd Mate acted as tankerman PIC. Chief Mate was effectively barge captain. AB’s were tankerman assists. 6/6 3rd mate/2nd mate on cargo ops in port. Then set up the pilot/tug/call the agency to get out.
How so? Are you suggesting wire boats have a greater ability to make trips where/when ATBs would otherwise have to go weather-bound?
Wait a sec, I thought one of the major advantages of ATB’s was they were weatherbound less than wire boats, not more. Now some seem to be saying it’s the exact opposite?
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Take your pick, wire or ATB with latest Intercon system. I know which way I would go. But then again, I am retired, your choice.
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I’ve been on jak, bludworth and intercon systems, intercon is what I prefer from an engineers standpoint. Routinely sail in shit weather that a wire boat wouldn’t think about, NE not west coast. I was on a tug that lost one south of Hatteras, 36hrs of fun, cut the gear off, 2 rescue tugs, lose a turbo on an Alco. Good times.
It’s not the wire it’s the lack of qualified guys who dont have a pencil whipped toar. Last mate couldn’t tie up at the fuel dock light boat nevermind pick one up on the fly. Who’s ever come out at 0600 to find that the mate never retracted the pins, tankerman didnt give a fuck and the barge is half empty ?
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With the articouple system there is an automated lightering mode with only the f-pads extended. With the jak system the intent is to be in lightering mode with the pins on low pressure in the slides, aft of the sockets.
Now obviously neither of these systems are foolproof whilst the barge is loading/discharging, but i am curious what system your statement is referring to.
Now thats a common theme.
“I need 5 ft of seperation while i’m stripping. I should be able to rock the barge anyway i need to!” - every tankerman anywhere
With sumps there is NO reason to rock and roll the barge. That’s lazy single skin tank trash shit. That was an intercon system, we handled it but laughed about it after the fact.
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Hopefully, someone or a few somebody’s learned what not to do in the future.
From my perspective, it’d be kinda hard to see over the 5 and 6 high stacks of containers with an atb. A fair number of docks in my neck of the woods are setup for loading and discharging over the stern of the barge as well…I don’t see an atb replacing wire boats in my sector any time soon, but there’s definitely times where I would have preferred to not have to flop on the barge.
Most applications of ATB are geared to oil transport and some bulk transport. Container transport is not feasible for the reason you mentioned.
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Nothing beats looking at an actual ATB rather than just pictures like I am but I’m starting to get the picture. From what I understand the tug can pitch independently from the barge with the Intercon systems but not roll. Do the tank barges only carry clean oil, not cargoes that require heating? The tug with two large medium speed diesels has probably a quite simple and compact engine room but it doesn’t leave a lot of room for anything else like bunkers.
The tug can pitch independently up to a certain angle in both directions before hull to hull contact can occur. For Intercon at least, there is a pitch indicator with alarm set point that gives you plenty of warning if excessive pitch is occurring.
Most, if not all, of the newer barges are capable of carrying heated cargo typically utilizing a thermal oil system. Many also have approved COW systems installed. There is not much cargo-wise that a modern ATB can’t do when compared to a ship.
Bunkers for the barge are kept in their own storage tanks on the barge. Bunkering can be accomplished either via an external source such as a bunker barge or from the tug when needed.
I wouldn’t say a wire boats weather parameters are broader. When you see a wire boat anchored in the lower Miss River for weeks with ATBs running in and out with no problem that’s hard to argue. In my experience most oil barges have ballast which helps even if they push with cables and tow at sea. It also helps get the right stern drag for steerage when loaded. The biggest problem with ballast these days is the ballast water treatment systems. The ATB I’m on has articouple pins and a bow thruster though we take an assist most of the time due to the customer. For coastal shipment of oil ATBs are far more efficient than wire boats. I would argue they are much safer too as long as you watch the weather and don’t push your luck if it looks marginal on your sea conditions. Articouple says our set up is good up to 15ft seas but we call it 10ft and it gives us some room to play with. We are faster than towing for sure and you don’t lose time getting on/off the wire or have the risk while being disconnect from a loaded barge either. TECO used to have ATBs that sailed all over the world when I worked for them but those were bulk barges. Still had ballast systems though. As far as manning we run a Capt, a Mate, 2 second mates, a C/E, a QMED, an AB, and an AB/Tankerman on the tug and the barge has two tankermen that live on the barge. The second mates handle the ballast while the tankermen handle cargo but the Master of the tug is over the whole operation.
Along with: "I need to come ahead 8’… Need to come back 3’ Now ahead 2’ " all while having a 75’ cargo hose to stretch across a 10’ gap to manifold… Along with OK. “Were gonna be done in 15 minutes”…… after being repeatedly told: “I need 2 hours notice before ETF to give pilots 4 hour notice”. That’s a "barge captain’ for ya.
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Thank you for your explanation. I’ve only ever seen one at sea and I’m not sure we will ever see one down here due to the weather conditions typical in this part of the world.