ST. LAWRENCE TUG AND BARGE TRANSPORTATION
Tug and Barge transportation plays an important role in moving cargo through the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Seaway. The tugboat provides the power and propulsion to push or pull the barge through the water, which itself carries the load on its flat deck
Although they can’t carry the same volume of cargo as large ships can, the versatility of barges allows them to access shallow port locations and manoeuvre better than larger vessels in tight areas, which often means that cargo can be delivered closer to its final destination.
Advantages
“A real advantage of tug & barge is ease of loading,” said Steve Fletcher, President of McKeil Marine. “Steel coils can be cost effectively loaded onto a barge by using a forklift, but if you’re trying to move steel coils onto a ship it’s much more expensive because you have to use cranes.It takes more time and the costs are much greater.”
The decreasing water levels of the Great Lakes are putting additional pressure on the cost structure for traditional shipments: lower draft is necessitating lighter loads and, therefore, losing the economies of scale for larger sized loads of bulk materials.
“As the Great Lakes’ water levels have continued to drop, it’s become an increasing problem for ships,” said Fletcher. “But, it’s much less of a concern for barges because they’re already drawing a lot less water to start with.”
Efficiency and versatility
Fletcher believes that for optimal cost effectiveness, tugs and barges should be used over relatively short distances, to carry loads of around 10,000 tonnes. “If you’re carrying larger quantities - like 25 to 30,000 tonnes - over longer distances than using a large ship becomes more cost effective,” he said. “But, if you’re traveling over a shorter distance the difference in cost becomes much less.”
The efficiency of tug and barge transportation is driven by versatility. Barges can carry a vast array of commodities, from salt and quartz to prefabricated structures and shipping containers.
“We have a barge that has a 150 foot conveyor boom that allows it to transfer aggregate onto shore,” said Fletcher. “That same barge can then carry another sort of deck cargo on its very next trip. The more that you’re utilizing a vessel, the more savings that you can pass on to the end customer.”
Environmentally friendly
In a world that is becoming increasingly aware of its carbon emissions, and the affect that unsustainable energy consumption is having on the environments in which we live, tug and barge vessels are embraced by the marine transportation industry for their relatively low energy use.
“Tug and barge vessels provide an environmentally friendly solution, dramatically reducing emissions and