First ATB tug-barge for GC

The newly delivered Abundance, the first of two 139-foot by 44-foot by 19-foot articulated tugboat-barge (ATB) tugboats, built at Nichols Brothers Boat Builders in Freeland, Wash., were built to push the first ammonia ATB carriers in American waters. Nichols delivered the tug June 30 to support operations of Tampa Port Services LLC, a subsidiary of The Mosaic Company, the world’s leading marketer of concentrated phosphate and potash. The Abundance will be operated by a subsidiary of Savage Companies, with locations throughout Louisiana, pushing a 508-foot by 96-foot anhydrous ammonia barge along the Gulf of Mexico and Mississippi River. The scheduled start-up is this summer and it will be the first U.S.-built ammonia ATB unit. (Source: Work Boat 07/14/17)