The following is the text of a news release from Bouchard Transportation Co.:
(MELVILLE, N.Y.) (Feb. 27) — Bouchard Transportation Co. Inc. announces that the company’s new 10,000 hp ATB tug Kim M. Bouchard was launched Feb. 26 at VT Halter Marine’s Pascagoula, Miss., shipyard.
Measuring 150 feet, Kim is classed by ABS as A1 Towing Vessel, Dual Mode ATB, USCG Subchapter M, and is equipped with an Intercon coupler system. Upon delivery, the ATB tug will be paired with Barge B. No. 270, a 250,000-barrel capacity vessel also under construction at VT Halter.
“Launching the Kim is a significant milestone for Bouchard,” said Morton S. Bouchard III, president and CEO of Bouchard Transportation Co. Inc. “Once married, the Kim and B. No. 270 will be Bouchard’s 18th ATB unit and the safest and most technologically advanced unit of its kind. I’m looking forward to delivery and am grateful to everyone involved in construction for another fine job.”
The ATB unit Kim M. Bouchard and B. No. 270 is set to enter service June 2015. A sister unit to the pair, M/V Donna J. Bouchard and B. No. 272, is also under construction at VT Halter’s Pascagoula facility.
About Bouchard Transportation Co. Inc.
Bouchard Transportation’s history dates back to its incorporation in 1918 by founder, Capt. Fred Bouchard, the youngest tugboat captain in the Port of New York. Bouchard is a family-owned business and the nation’s largest independently owned oceangoing petroleum barge company. The company’s areas of operation span all four coasts of the United States: East, Gulf, West and Great Lakes. The fleet consists of 25 barges ranging from 25,000 to 252,000 barrels and 21 tugs ranging from 3,000 to 10,000 horsepower.
