A year and a day after the first 28,000-BBL barged arrived, the second, DBL 27, received the ceremonial bottle from Frances Yates of the Hess Marine Dept. At left is Capt. Bill Sullivan, for whose New York division the new K-Sea barge will run. (Photo: Don Sutherland)
Traditional-styled wheelhouse of the Davis Sea gives Matt Devlin a spacious and comfortable place to work. Tug was acquired a couple years ago with the Norfolk purchase, pinned and raised at Feeney's yard last summer. (Photo: Don Sutherland)
Houma slips in. On that sort of strength, Capt. Sullivan reports that "our customers are thrilled with the turnaround time. It's much better than we had expected. The captain just noses up to the terminal, presses a button, everything happens. Weather is not an issue." Weather-resistance is one of the noted virtues of the big coastal ATBs, no small importance to people at distant terminals in wintery climes. New York Harbor as a rule doesn't get eight-footers, but you don't need eight-footers to have reasons to wait at the dock awhile longer. Plenty of lines break in New York waters, but pinboats don't use them in the notch. Where K-Sea pinboats rose to promi-
nence on routes between Maine and the Gulf, now Capt. Sullivan sees their contributions to the short haul of bunkering. "We have another coupler under construction in Finland for a small tug, perhaps the Labrador Sea or Inland Sea," two recently-acquired harbor tugs. "The coupling system works great for bunker deliveries because it is more efficient. With the old equipment, the helmsman had to know the peculiarities of each barge. Do I make up stern first? Do I put the spring line on the second bitt or third? Do I need a three-part bow line? Now he just pushes a button and he is ready to rock and roll." The Labrador Sea, Inland Sea, and
Caspian Sea were acquired a few months ago from Sea Wolf Marine. At least two more tug acquisitions are on K-Sea's agenda, one being the best-known secret on the harbor but we promised not to print it yet, the other being anybody's guess. Asked whether all the large K-Sea tugs would be converted to pinboats -- the Viking and Rebel are having the work done now -- Capt. Sullivan says, "I doubt we could convert them as quickly as we will buy them." One of the rumored new acquisitions is probably enough of a boat for coastal ATB work, but Capt. Sullivan is thinking it might serve a purpose just as it is in the company's new west coast operation.
Right Coast and Left
"When you become a publicly-traded company," says Capt. Sullivan, "one of the things you think about is the investors, and protecting their investment. That's one of the effects of expanding your footprint on both the east and west coasts." Katrina last year demonstrated potentials for downtime at facilities, so to an extent the two coasts are mutual backup. Besides financial reassurance, a bi-coastal presence permits a certain amount of equipment swaps, if ever deemed appropriate. "If the black oil rates weaken in the east and are good on the west coast, we can trade back and forth," says Capt. Sullivan as a f'rinstance. So K-Sea went to Seattle
Leading By Example
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22 · MarineNews · April, 2007
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