5,450dwt Ocean Deck Barge Sold

Marcon International, Inc. of Coupeville, Washington is pleased to report the sale of the 250.1’ x 72.1’ x 15.5’ depth, U.S. flag, ocean deck / wood chip barge “DT-250” (ex-ZB-250, Hull No. 138) by Dunlap Towing of Everett, Washington to Island Tug & Barge Co. of Seattle, Washington.

The 5,450dwt chip barge was built as a flat deck barge by West Gulf Marine Works in Galveston, Texas in 1988 and brought around to the West Coast by Zidell Marine of Portland, Oregon. The barge was constructed with ½” plate deck, hull and bottom plate with two longitudinal and six transverse bulkheads forming 21 watertight compartments. In the late 1990s, Dunlap fitted the “DT-250” with a 237’ long x 65’ wide steel chip bin plus installed a new wood wear deck in 2014.

New Owners of the “ITB-253”, as the barge is being renamed, are planning to shorten the present 22’ high bin walls and remove the existing wood wear deck, replacing it with concrete and rebar which will also increase the barge’s existing 1,500psf deck load.

The barge is classed ABS +A1 Barge, Unrestricted Service through February 2018 and carries an International Load Line Certificate.

Dunlap Towing crews have been operating tugboats in the Puget Sound region since 1925 and in the waters of Alaska since 1978. Founded in 1925 by Gene Dunlap, Dunlap Towing originally hauled fish, grain, and straw from the Skagit River delta to the markets and flour mills of Seattle. The company expanded over the next 50 years into log towing, gravel barging, and numerous other services around the Puget Sound. Dunlap Towing Company has expanded over the past nine decades from a small three-tug business towing grain scows and logs to a fleet of vessels operating along the Pacific Coast and throughout the Pacific Ocean. They regularly tow to Honolulu, Hawaii and have been navigating the waters of Western Alaska for over 35 years delivering barges to remote villages above the Arctic Circle.

Island Tug and Barge hauls more bulk commodities such as crushed rock, dredge spoils, or gypsum than anyone on Puget Sound. The company is a family owned and operated company based in Seattle Washington with over 35 years of experience working the waters of Puget Sound, Alaska and beyond.

Marcon acted as sole broker in the sale and has represented Buyers in dozens of sales and purchases, plus worked with Dunlap for many years and sold their 3,000HP tug “Suiattle” earlier this year.

Marcon International, Inc. has brokered twenty-nine sales and charters to date this year, including 7 ocean deck barges totaling 34,964dwt. Several additional sales are pending.

Five 5,000HP twin screw and ASD tugs; one 9,700HP AHTS; and one 5,150BHP, 2011 built AHTS continue to be fixed on previously arranged long-term charters in the U.S., Latin America and Southeast Asia. In the last 34 years, with the closing of this sale, Marcon has sold or chartered 1,390 vessels and barges including 144 ocean deck barges (887,574dwt).