Steel Cut for Four RAL-Designed Oil Barges

On October 10, 2019 the steel cutting ceremony took place at Jiangsu Jinling Shipyard, Co. Ltd. in Yizheng, China (a subsidiary of the Nanjing Jinling Shipyard) for four oil/deck cargo barges being constructed for the Government of the Northwest Territories in Northern Canada. Steel blocks will be constructed at the Yizheng shipyard and then barged approx. 50 kilometers up the Yangtze River to Nanjing Jinling Shipyard for final assembly. Following steel cutting the construction is expected to take 9 months, with the barges being ready for delivery in Shanghai by July 2020. From there the barges will be placed on a heavy-lift ship and transported to Port of Tuktoyaktuk, in the Northwest Territories, on the Beaufort Sea.

The barges are designed to Lloyd’s Class Rules for double hulled oil barges and are compliant with MARPOL and Transport Canada Rules and Regulations. Each barge will be capable of carrying liquid petroleum cargoes and containerized and bulk deck cargoes.

The barges are designed for operations in the Beaufort Sea and for shallow draft operations on the Mackenzie River in Northern Canada. They will be operated by Marine Transportation Services, which is fully owned by the Government of the Northwest Territories. The primary mission of the barges is to deliver resupply goods to the communities along the Mackenzie River and the Beaufort Sea coastline. At the loadline draft each barge can carry a total deadweight of 3,600 tonnes, while at the river draft of 1.52 m each barge can carry a total deadweight of 1,200 tonnes. Each barge has a liquid cargo capacity of 3.0 million litres.