OSG orders three articulated tug barges

OSG orders three articulated tug barges Overseas Shipholding Group Inc. said it had entered into an agreement to build three new articulated tug barges that will add an aggregate 148,200 deadweight tons of capacity to the company’s U.S.-flag tanker fleet.
   The announcement comes in the wake of OSG’s acquisition of the Jones Act barge operator Maritrans last November.
   The tugboats will be constructed at Bender Shipbuilding & Repair Co. Inc. in Mobile, and the barges will be constructed at Bender’s affiliated company, Tampa Bay Shipbuilding & Repair Co.
   OSG estimates that the total cost of construction, including owner-furnished equipment, will be about $90 million for each ATB unit.
   The barges will each have a carrying capacity of about 290,000 barrels. Each barge will be connected to a new 12,000-horsepower tugboat, and will be capable of carrying refined petroleum products as well as crude oil within the U.S. Jones Act market.