The following is text of a news release from Middle River Marine:
(MOKENA, Ill.) — Middle River Marine, an Ozinga company, christened two towboats, Gwyneth Anne and Kamryn Olivia, on Aug. 21 at Joliet Terminal in Joliet, Ill. The new boats enhance Middle River Marine, which is Ozinga’s harbor and fleeting branch, and are an added celebration of the fourth-generation family-owned company’s 90th anniversary.
Gwyneth Anne is the fleet’s fifth boat, introduced in June 2017. The boat is 65 feet long by 28 feet wide by 9 feet deep. It has 1,325 horsepower from two Cummins QSK19-M main engines and the retractable pilothouse is 32 feet. The interior of the boat features brick flooring, granite countertops and three sleeping quarters. Kamryn Olivia, introduced in 2018, is a retractable-pilothouse boat with z-drives from ZF Marine. Two Cummins QSK-38 diesel engines provide 2,000 horsepower. The boat is 77 feet long.
Gwyneth Anne and Kamryn Olivia – named after Ozinga fifth-generation daughters – join Alivia Faith, Elyse Noelle, Mikayla Skye, and Sydney Reese on the Chicago area waterways. These boats help Ozinga’s Materials and Logistics team facilitate transportation from Peoria to Chicago and mark a milestone in further establishing the importance of waterways in the Midwest.
Middle River Marine offers harbor and fleeting services and has locations at a network of river-based terminals. Earlier this year, Ozinga facilitated the demolition of the old Morton Salt building on Wacker Drive in Chicago, utilizing 11 barges to recycle 16,592 tons of material. These barges, equivalent to 668 semi-trucks, eliminated roadway traffic for more efficient and environmentally friendly transportation. In 2017, Ozinga hauled 1,563 barges, reducing Illinois road congestion by 90,168 semi-trucks.
