The new articulated tug-barge unit Evening Breeze/B. No. 252 has been delivered to Bouchard Transportation Co. Inc., Melville, N.Y. It was built by VT Halter Marine Inc. and Bollinger Shipyards.
The 112’x35’x17’, 4,000-hp tug Evening Breeze left VT Halter’s Pascagoula, Miss., facility on March 12 to pair up with the 317’6”x70’x28’, 55,000-bbl. B. No. 252 built at Bollinger, Lockport, La. The vessels, linked by an Intercon coupler system, got underway to join Bouchard’s fleet service in New York.
The Evening Breeze is Bouchard Transportation's first Tier 4 tug. Bouchard Transportation photo.
The Evening Breeze – sistership to the Evening Star delivered in 2015 – is the first Bouchard tug to meet Tier 4 emission requirements. The new ATB will transport clean petroleum products in the Jones Act market.
The ATB delivery is another step in Bouchard’s ongoing fleet expansion plan, as the company continues new investment in advanced equipment.
“Continuously maintaining and advancing our equipment has always been our top priority,” company president and CEO Morton S. Bouchard III aid in a statement. “Our relationship with both VT Halter Marine and Bollinger Shipyards goes back decades, and I am very thankful for all of the hard work and talent that their teams have put into producing another cutting edge ATB unit for Bouchard.”
