The first of two outsized fuel tank barges (shown above) slid down the Jeffboat, Inc. launchways at Jeffersonville, Ind., recently. There, it is receiving final outfitting before traveling to the East Coast to join the fleet of Boston Fuel Transportation, Inc.
The tank barge is one of two identical vessels being constructed by Jeffboat for Boston Fuel. Under construction since early May, the tanker is a mammoth, single-skin, oceangoing barge which can transport some 36,000 barrels of fuel.
Its sister barge will be launched in mid-October. Both barges are 18 feet high, 60 feet wide, and 260 feet long, and contain living quarters for a two-to-four crew.
Another larger tank barge is taking shape further down the tanker construction line. Scheduled for completion early in 1982, the vessel is being built for another East Coast firm, Reinauer Transportation Company. This tanker will be 22 feet deep, 60 feet wide, and 325 feet long, and will increase Reinauer's fuel-carrying capacity by 60,000 barrels.