Barge News

Raymarine, a leader in marine electronics, announced that its Pathfinder Radar System has been selected by New Orleans-based Blessey Marine to support the company’s inland tow boat and barge fleet operating across the United States.As required on new and refitted vessels, Blessey Marine’s full fleet will be outfitted with Raymarine Commercial radars and displays in the coming months. These radar systems will help the Blessey Marine fleet transport its customers’ wide array of bulk cargoes safely and efficiently throughout the navigable inland waterways of the U.S.…

The Towing Vessel Inspection Bureau (TVIB) announced that Rio Marine, Inc. has become the first maritime services provider to achieve certification under the American Waterways Operators’ (AWO) Responsible Carrier Program (RCP).The RCP is a safety management system for the tugboat, towboat, and barge industry that sets standards for safety, environmental stewardship, and continuous improvement. To earn certification, companies undergo a third-party audit evaluating policies, procedures, employee practices, and operational performance.Capt. David A. Foret Jr.

“In a global marketplace, supply and demand in one area of the world can greatly impact the agricultural production in another. American products are shipped worldwide …” is how the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) describes the backdrop for international trade. The inland and coastwise waterway systems serving the United States (where agricultural cargoes are an important component) are sometimes regarded as insular highly specialized marketplaces. However, they are indeed elements of much larger trading networks that are influenced by global economic…

U.S. corn futures plunged to contract lows on Tuesday after the Department of Agriculture projected a record-shattering corn harvest this year as farmers planted more acres than expected and the crop faced few weather challenges this summer.Soybeans reversed earlier losses after the USDA, in a monthly crop supply and demand report, forecast a smaller-than-expected U.S. harvest and tighter supplies as growers seeded fewer acres than previously thought.Chicago Board of Trade wheat followed corn futures lower…

French subsea power cable maker and services provider Nexans has formed partnership with Crowley Wind Services to develop and operate a Jones Act compliant cable lay barge. The cable lay barge will be dedicated to supporting the installation of subsea transmission lines necessary for offshore wind energy, telecommunications and other major industrial applications.The 300-foot, U.S.-flagged vessel, built in Louisiana and tested in the U.S. Gulf to Nexans specifications, will be…

A sailboat collided with a barge near Hibiscus Island, Miami, on Monday leaving two dead.Miami Beach Fire Rescue crews were first on scene, and they were later joined by Miami-Dade Fire rescue, City of Miami Fire Rescue, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) and Coast Guard Station Miami Beach.Six people were recovered from the water but two girls, aged 7 and 13, were declared dead upon arrival to Jackson Memorial Hospital.Two other girls, aged 8 and 11, are in critical condition.

Severe weather caused an overwhelming towline force and unrecoverable heeling that led to the capsizing and sinking of a towing vessel near Galveston, Texas, last year, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has concluded.On May 13, 2024, while towing the barge Marmac 27 astern on an 800‑foot‑long wire, the towing vessel Baylor J. Tregre encountered severe weather, listed to port, capsized and sank. The four-person crew abandoned the vessel into a liferaft and were rescued by the U.S. Coast Guard. One crewmember sustained minor injuries. There was no pollution reported.

Ingram Marine Group, the largest barge operator on the inland waterways, showcased its operations and planned investments in the bi-state St. Louis region during the opening session of FreightWeekSTL 2025. Hosted by the St. Louis Regional Freightway, the virtual panel session on June 2 featured Dan Lester, Senior Vice President of Business Development at Ingram Infrastructure Group (IIG), part of Ingram Marine Group’s family of businesses. Lester highlighted the company's strategic initiatives to leverage the St.

CMA CGM has launched the first fully electric container barge in Vietnam, supported by the construction of a solar-powered charging station at the Cai Mep port, the country’s main container gateway near Ho Chi Minh City.As part of this initiative, CMA CGM has signed an agreement with its long-standing partner Gemadept, a key logistics and port operator in Vietnam, to establish a joint venture named Green River Transportation, which will operate the electric barge. The new entity will manage river transport services in the Mekong Delta.

ABS awarded approval in principle (AiP) to Overseas Shipholding Group, Inc. (OSG), the parent company of Aptamus Carbon Solutions, for its preliminary design of a liquefied carbon dioxide (LCO2) barge.The development of the barge design is a core component of the Tampa Regional Intermodal Carbon Hub (T-RICH) project to receive, store and process emissions from Florida industries for transport to regional sequestration sites.The articulated tug and barge unit (ATB) is a first-of-its-kind to service carbon capture projects in the U.S.

On April 30, 2025, a barge pushed by a Carver Companies tugboat made contact with the historic Hudson-Athens Lighthouse, damaging the dock and the stairs to the building.The Hudson-Athens Lighthouse, a vital aid to navigation and a symbol of the region’s maritime history, sits in the middle of the Hudson River between the City of Hudson and the Village of Athens. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and was recently named one of the “11 Most Endangered Historic Places in America” by the National Trust for Historic Preservation.No injuries were reported in the collision…

A barge tow struck a vane dike on the Ohio River last year because the pilot did not effectively compensate for the outdraft current while navigating out of the McAlpine Locks in Louisville, Kentucky, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has concluded.The towing vessel Amber Brittany was transiting the Ohio River on March 8, 2024, pushing 15 barges when the tow struck the vane dike at the upstream end of the locks. The tow broke apart, with 10 barges floating down the river…

New type of river pusher: CDS 4115Paraguay's Girona S.A. – Rio Sur Transporte y Logistica took delivery of Veronica V, designed and built by Concordia Damen, a CDS 4115 Shallow Draft River Pusher will serve Girona’s customers along the 2695 km Paraguay River. The 5.400 HP river pusher is particularly well-timed, with river levels dropping for months during the dry season engineers analyzed the Paraguay River system to create an efficient pusher vessel for these conditions. Its shallow draft ensures year-round navigation and high cargo efficiency. The CDS4115 type measures 41 x 15.5 m.

Part of the structure of the port unit of the municipality in the interior of Amazonas ended up at the bottom of the river on Sunday night (09).Two oil barges broke away from their anchorage and collided with the structure of the Edmilson Brasil Port Unit - IP4, in the municipality of Humaitá (590 kilometers southwest of Manaus). Part of the metal structure sank in the Madeira River on Sunday night (9). The vessel that was directing the barges was docked at a river fuel station anchored on the riverbank for refueling.

Concordia Damen won a contract by Koninklijke Van der Wees Transporten for the construction and delivery of an innovative RoRo pontoon, to be named Lastdrager 29. In addition, the Werkendam-based shipyard will build two coupling pontoons for Van der Wees. The Lastdrager 29 was developed to meet the unique transport challenges faced by Van der Wees, which has designed the RoRo Pontoon together with Shipbuilding Solutions. Equipped with a (removable) drive-in function, the pontoon enables the seamless loading and unloading of high and heavy cargo, supporting a load capacity of up to 600 tons.

About 150 feet of a degraded dock in Chalmette, Louisiana, collapsed into the water in 2023 after a barge contact, but it was unlikely to have sustained the force of a typical docking anyway, a National Transportation Safety Board investigation has concluded.The towing vessel Ovide J was maneuvering two loaded crude oil barges to the Chalmette Refinery crude oil dock on April 25, 2023, when the starboard barge contacted the transfer platform on one of the dock’s dolphins.A 2017 inspection report found major deterioration on the dolphin…

St. Johns Ship Building, owned by Americraft Marine, signed a contract with Hal Jones Contractor, a Division of Vecellio & Grogan, Inc., to build a 150 x 60 x 8-ft. Spud Barge. The Spud Barges, built to support various marine construction and operations, will serve in Hal Jones Contractor’s fleet.

CORE POWER (US) Inc. has engaged with Glosten to help its team design a floating nuclear power plant (FNPP) to power U.S. ports. Created by CORE POWER, the FNPP concept is a nearshore infrastructure system that includes a barge-based nuclear power plant, barge support services, electrical grid integration, and operational teams. Easy to transport and rapidly deploy, the FNPP will provide an estimated 175GWh of clean electricity per year. The FNPP connection will allow ports to achieve zero-emissions electrical generation for visiting ships…

The Arab Shipbuilding and Repair Yard Company (ASRY) has launched the first phase of the Bapco Refining Self-Propelled Fuel Oil Bunker Barges project with a keel-laying ceremony.The project, which is scheduled for execution in the final quarter of 2024, comes as part of a strategic alliance between ASRY and Bapco Refining and is a step towards positioning the Kingdom of Bahrain as a key maritime hub in the region.The project consists of the delivery of two self-propelled fuel…

Roll Group has cut steel for its latest addition, Roll Barge One, in Batam, Indonesia. Scheduled for delivery by ASL Yards in the third quarter of 2024, this marks Roll Group's entry into the barge market with its own assets."This is a new milestone in the history of our company," said Peter Rondhuis, CEO of Roll Group. "By entering the barge market with our own assets, where we have been servicing our clients so far with rented barges, we're aligning with our strategic vision. Roll Barge One represents the first of many we plan to build.

Finnish technology group Wärtsilä has entered into a collaboration agreement with U.S.-based naval architecture and marine engineering firm Elliott Bay Design Group (EBDG) to further develop its Clean Harbor Alternative Mobile Power (CHAMP) Barge design.Featuring Wärtsilä’s methanol engine technology, the collaboration introduces a solution to reduce emissions from large vessels in situations where conventional shore power is limited or not available.The floating mobile power…

The 2023 navigation season has drawn to a close on the Upper Mississippi River.A 15-barge tow pushed by the towboat Thomas Erickson, the last of the season, departed Lock and Dam 10, near Guttenberg, Iowa, December 3, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, St. Paul District said.The 2023 season commence March 12, when the towboat Phillip M Pfeffer broke its way through the ice of Lake Pepin to travel to St. Paul, Minnesota.With the 2023 navigation season in the rearview, St. Paul District staff will remain busy this coming winter with maintenance projects at Lock and Dam 2…

HGK Shipping ordered from De Gerlien van Tiem shipyard in Druten, Netherlands, a new, low-emission dry goods vessel, a vessel to be specially tailored to the requirements of Salzgitter Flachstahl. Equipped with a diesel-electric drive system and solar panels and designed to be “future-fuel-ready”, the new vessel is outfitted to make a contribution to the sustainability ambitions of HGK Shipping and Salzgitter AG. Once it goes into service, it will replace one of the three vessels from the existing fleet…