INLAND WATERWAYS

Inland Container-on-Vessel Plans Move Along

Vessels are designed with two patented features: an exoskeleton hull structure that limits lightship weight and a minimal wake bow structure.

Plans for a new all-water container-onvessel (COV) trade lane between the Port of Plaquemines on the Lower Mississippi and the Midwest are picking up pace.

Hawtex Development Corporation has signed on as the lead developer for a new St. Louis region COV port in Herculaneum, Mo., in the St. Louis region. At the same time, American Patriot Container Transport LLC reports that it has issued a solicitation to seven U.S. shipyards for construction of four of the innovative river container vessels that will provide the new COV service. The call for submissions, which includes an option for four additional vessels, was issued December 14 and proposals are due at the end of February.

In addition to the 2,375 TEU vessels, American Patriot Container Transport is also planning a series of smaller 1,800 TEU “hybrid” vessels designed to move through locks and low-lying bridges on the tributary rivers, providing service to feeder ports along the Mississippi, Missouri and Illinois rivers in the St. Louis region and other upstream ports, including ports in Kansas City and Jefferson City in Missouri and in Joliet and Cairo in Illinois and Fort Smith in Arkansas.

Developed by Vancouver, B.C.-based Naviform Consulting and Research Ltd., both vessels are designed with two patented features, an exoskeleton hull structure that limits the vessels’ lightship weight to maximize cargo payload, and a minimal wake bow structure that minimizes hull resistance to allow an upriver speed of 13 miles per hour with minimal wake.

Expected round trip times to Memphis is

First Fully-Electric U.S. Towboats Set for 2025

Houston-headquartered Industrial Service Solutions (ISS) reports that the first four fully-electric towboats to be built in North America are planned to be available for charter in 2025.

The towboats are being developed by New York City headquartered Zeeboat LLC to move container barges between terminals that serve containerships in deep-water ports.

ISS is providing Zeeboat with general contract, project management and vessel support services for the manufacture and delivery of the boats. six days and St. Louis in 10 days, significantly faster than traditional barge tows. The vessels will also be environmentally friendly, utilizing LNG (liquefied natural gas) power, and cargo flexible with ability to carry a diversity of cargo, including refrigerated containers.

Proven Hull Design

The design will be based on The Shearer Group Inc.’s (TSGI) proven hull design for a 95- by 34-foot towboat. The hull shape was developed by TSGI using advanced fluid dynamic calculations and data from vessels in service. The design has been proven to increase water flow to the propeller and increase overall efficiency of the barge/towboat combination by more than 10% over more traditional inland towboat designs.

According to ISS, the design when coupled with an azipod drive system will improve overall transport efficiency by more than 30% when compared to conventional towboats.

The Project

Initial plans for the project first emerged back in 2017 when American Patriot Holdings, the parent company of American Patriot Container Transport LLC, and Plaquemines Port Harbor & Terminal District in Louisiana first announced plans to develop a new intermodal container terminal on the lower Mississippi River able to accommodate both the largest Post-Panamax containerships and the new river container vessels.

Plans for the Port of Plaquemines terminal have been progressing steadily since then. Meantime, Hawtex Development Corporation, which has operations in Texas and Hawaii, has been working with American Patriot Holdings over the past several years to help in identifying and establishing market-ready locations for Mississippi River intermodal container facilities, with an initial focus on the Memphis and St. Louis regions.

In the St. Louis region, the Herculaneum site that is already home to Fred Weber/ RCP’s current port facility and adjacent to the parcel owned by the Doe Run Company emerged as the most advantageous site to develop a state-of-the-art intermodal container facility to serve this central Midwest region for both the export and import of containerized cargo.

The facility is in the early stages of development and the new partnership allows all parties to start planning efforts that enable final investment decisions. The total amount of the investment to be made at the new port is yet to be determined.

Fully-Electric

The vessels’ battery energy storage systems will be provided by Shift Clean Energy and will support fully electric operation.

Zeeboat and ISS also intend to work together on future decarbonization of ports through electrification, as the towboat charging infrastructure lends itself to expansion.