PIGGYBACK APPROACH CUTS TOWING TIME, ENERGIES

Describes the methods used in pooling the assets and expertise of three prominent marine carriers into a single organization resulting in an innovative approach to the international movement of some types of mobile drilling units. The method involves the piggyback towing of rigs at a speed as much as twice that of conventional mobilization on long hauls, along with a considerable reduction in towing horsepower requirements. Global Transport Organization (GTO) was formed from Crowley Maritime Corp., Federal Pacific Ltd., and Genstar Overseas Ltd., giving GTO a fleet of more than 200 tugs, 400 barges and a wide array of cargo-handling and support equipment to draw upon. In terms of the offshore petroleum industry however, attention is focused on the large ocean-going barge components of the fleet along with their accompanying standardized tugs. Current GTO inventory includes over 40 of these large barge units, 11 of which are equipped with ballast systems and of these, 4 are equipped with automated submersion systems. More than 34 ocean-going tugs with horse-power capacities ranging from 7,000 to 9,000 ihp are available for towing duty.

• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/issn/00300608
• Corporate Authors:

  Petroleum Publishing Company

  1200 South Post Oak Road
  Houston, TX  United States  77027
• Authors:
  • Robertson, R
• Publication Date: 1977-11

Media Info

• Pagination: 2 p.
• Serial:
  • Offshore
  • Volume: 37
  • Issue Number: 12
  • ISSN: 0030-0608

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Barges; Piggyback transportation; Towing devices; Vehicle design
• Old TRIS Terms: Barge design; Jack up rigs; Towing operations
• Subject Areas: Design; Marine Transportation; Vehicles and Equipment;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00168346
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: Offshore
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Jan 30 1978 12:00AM