New pocket tanker for Puget Sound

A new pocket tanker set to replace current ATB operations is under construction for Puget Sound operator Maxum Petroleum.

“We wanted a vessel that would allow us to quickly and efficiently serve our diesel and lube oil customers in Puget Sound” explained Maxum Petroleum’s Mike Curry of the new 38-metre product tanker that the firm is having built. “We have a 15,000-barrel (2,380-cubic-metre) barge doing the job now but this boat will more efficiently handle our Articulated Tug Barge (ATB) customers. Most of our customers take smaller deliveries, so the new boat, with its six cargo holds taking 3,700 barrels (590 cubic metres) of fuel and 90,850 litres of lube oil, will fill an important niche.”

The Global Provider will be less than 91 gross tonnes and so qualifies for a two-man day-boat operation around Seattle. It also has accommodation for four crew making longer runs practical. “We have one barge each on the Columbia River and in San Francisco Bay,” explained Curry, “So if we have a barge in the dry dock in any of these ports we can send this boat down as relief.”

With a 3.0-meter-draught on a 4.3-metre-moulded-depth and a 9.7-metre-beam, the Grade-B product tanker, to be named ‘Global Provider’, is fully double-hulled. Fuel tanks located port and starboard of the engine room will carry a total of 33,690 litres. Additional trim tanks are located in the forepeak and the stern quarters. Designed by the Elliot Bay Design Group, the boat is being built by Jesse Co Metal Fabrication and Machinery in Tacoma, Washington State. Brandt Schlender, Marine Project Management for Jesse Engineering, reports that the tanker is scheduled for deliver in February 2017.

In the engine room, aft of the six separate cargo holds, a pair of Cummins QSK 19M Tier three diesels, each generating 492kW at 1800rpm will provide propulsive power. These two in-line six-cylinder engines will each turn into Twin Disc MGX=5202SC gears swinging 1.2-metre four-blade stainless steel props mounted on 100-millimetre by 5.2-meter shafts. A pair of Northern Lights generators will meet the boat’s electrical and hydraulic power requirements.

On deck, a Rapp Marine HP30 5F crane will handle the hoses for product being pumped by a 152-millimetre Blackmer pumps.