Did anyone else see an article about McAllister getting some kind of gov’t grant towards developing a coastwise container-carrying ATB unit? I didn’t see it myself, I only heard whispers of it the other day. I think I heard it was on MarineLog maybe? Did gCaptain pick it up?
My initial thoughts on this are: good idea in principle, McAllister has experience with container barges, but no experience with pin-units. My first thoughts would have been with Crowley and Moran, who both have extensive pin-unit experience and a good amount of container experience as well. But then again, I’m just a lowly ole’ sailor-man and I don’t know nuthin’!
Pin unit experience is more of an engineering thing than operations, I don’t know too many guys who can’t handle a pin unit after handling wire units. Plus if its that big of a deal you can always poach a guy or two from the other companies for the knowledge.
I Personally don’t see Mcallister investing that kind of cash into anything like that. There was talk on the street of them building a new class of coastwise tug that would be pin-ready back in 08/09 when they were building tractors left and right but never another word.
The big downfall of coastwise Container service is Wx on the east coast so it’s a great idea but my thoughts are that the reason new oil barges get built its due to long term charters that pay well. Can’t see any type of whole charter for a container unit that has to keep a schedule whether or not they are carrying tonnage or not.
Yeah but everyone who’s anyone knows you guys out west just do things differently and are embarrassed to admit it! You guys luckily have barges and boats better suited for it too.
The operations in the past have just used regular deck barges with not much freeboard and minimal breakwater. They apply the east coast oil barge mentality to containers…and weather bound is the resultant. Lot of tight spots with shallow water though.
A few pages back in this thread I posted an image of a MARAD concept design for a RO/CON ATB among some other short sea shipping designs. The tug is a combination of that skyscraper of a tug, the “Discovery Coast”, and a large Crowley/OSG/U.S. Shipping pin unit. The barge is about what you’d expect but the containers have to be stacked to a minimum on deck for line of sight to the bow.
[QUOTE=rshrew;113692]I don’t get why these short sea shipping programs rely on container cranes when ramps and forklifts are cheaper and faster in my opinion.[/QUOTE]
I’ve said it before that any short sea service would have to be much more akin to a ferry than a cargoship and run on a ferry’s timetable for anyone to want to take advantage of it. Remember that the whole idea is about not having drivers sit on congested freeways but to bypass them by going offshore. Take away any time advantage and forget it…no incentive whatsoever to pay the added costs of sea transportation.
[QUOTE=c.captain;113713]I’ve said it before that any short sea service would have to be much more akin to a ferry than a cargoship and run on a ferry’s timetable for anyone to want to take advantage of it. Remember that the whole idea is about not having drivers sit on congested freeways but to bypass them by going offshore. Take away any time advantage and forget it…no incentive whatsoever to pay the added costs of sea transportation.[/QUOTE]
In the '90s, Tidewater lost it’s contract with Trailerbridge because they were always broke down. Moran picked up the small barges and Crowley picked up the big ones. Tidewater was always at least a day behind sched. The other tugs had to slow down to make their ETAs. For a while, Moran towed a container barge from Barber’s Cut to the Miss Gulf Outlet. Making your ETA is paramount in the feeder business. They were competing with the railroad. I think it shut down after Katrina.
I was in Antigua about two weeks ago and the M/V Midnight Stones (ex Trico Marine OSV Stones River). she had a ramp and a dozen or so 20 FT containers on chassis. A yard truck pulled right up and started staging them for the road trucks to pick up. Looks like a good use for the old boat. I seem to remember a Seacor OSV years ago with a similar set up in the Bahamas.
I’ve been browsing this thread. Since this is just spitballing, here is something to consider. The only future for short sea shipping is based on ports needing it. What is going on in the US is the major ports are spending millions to upgrade to accomodate ever larger box ships. Small ports like Portland Me, Providence, New Haven, Bridgeport, Baltimore, Morehead and all of the other small guys can’t ever accomodate the new generation ships. All the big ports do is increase existing port congestion, roads and rail. It seems to me that if there was a federal project to build one large east coast access facility say in Delaware Bay that could accomodate the largest current class of box ship you would look at something like the lighterage concept for tankers. You trans-ship from the large ship to handy size ATBs that could fit into the smaller ports. You could bring drafts up to 53 feet into Big Stone Anchorage. A huge offshore facility with rail mounted container gantries would be needed; huge up front costs and all but it could change the whole container dynamic. The big plus would be an offshore trans-shipment facility would enable you to do secirity screening on all of the boxes. Ship to ship transfer off shore would also reduce pilferage. Run the facility like an offshore oil facility, 24/7 and crew it with workers on a 12 + !2 watch system with a 7 day work rotation. If it was a totally new facility it might be outside all existing labor contracts. The current tanker lighterage area in Big Stone is currently under used due to US crude production and refinery shutdowns in Delaware Bay area. Could be a huge economic benefit for ports currently closed out of large scale container moves. Would also be more cost effective than providing federal funds for port expansion in New York, Norfolk, Charleston, Savannah and Jacksonville. Huge amounts going for deeper draft and upgrading cranes all just to land more boxes in ports already experiencing delays in cargo thru-put. Just punting one out there.
Great link ombugge thanks - I read this content on this ajot.com website frequently. I was wondering what US shipbuilders has the capability of producing these carriers? And are those shipbuilders already booked, and would not be able to provide the required space? US shipbuilders can not compete with Asian shipbuilders with only 1-2 ships per year. It would take years to develop a fleet in the US.
