Look out Alaska, here comes some big barges. In mid-September, the Anchorage Provider, the first of three 420-foot-by 100-foot-by 24-foot railcar barges, slid heavily down the side-launch ways at Gunderson Marine's shipyard in Portland, Ore.
The three-barge order is for the Seattle-based transportation and logistics company, Lynden, Inc. The primary customer for Lynden's railcar barge service is the Alaska Railroad, which receives loaded railcar deliveries in Whittier from Seattle. The Jore Company, also based out of Seattle, is a customer of the service as well.
The new fleet replaces an existing service that was initially started between the railroad and Crowley Maritime 25 years ago to pick up arriving railcars from across the country.
The newest barges are designed to carry up to 48 cars, with eight across and six fore and aft. Each loaded railcar will weigh roughly 280,000 pounds. The deadweight capacity of the vessel is 15,000 short tons. In addition, the barge will have the ability to carry up to 275 FEUs without exceeding loadline.
According to Donald Klive, Gunderson's marine project coordinator, a pump room is located aft in the center section of the barge, which accommodates two ballast pumps along with a large ballast manifold and piping.
"This four-tank ballast system is used to control barge leveling while loading or unloading cars. Control of this system can be from the pump room and forward or aft on the barge," he said.
Hydra-Lift skegs will reduce towing resistance, said Klive.
Michael Whalen, president of the barges' designer, Fisker-Anderson & Whalen, said designing a railcar was different than a previous Gunderson-built container barge he designed for an East Coast operator.
"You have wheel loading rather than corner post loading with containers. The area under the track where railcars run have to be reinforced for the concentrated load of railcar weight."
Whalen said the barge deck is designed to handle container or general cargo and the operator is looking at possibly building racks for containers that would allow them to be stacked as much as three-high.
The first two barges are scheduled to enter service in March 2001, with the third coming on line later in the year. The vessels will be capable of exceeding 10 knots and will be towed by 4,500 horsepower tugs which will be provided by yet another Seattle-based transportation provider, Western Towboat.
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