The Harvest: US-built Liquefied Gas Carrier Barge

Client:

Vigor

Savage Companies
Completion Date:

Summer 2017
Project Type:

Vessel Design & Modification
Service Categories:

Naval Architecture

Marine Engineering

Shipyard Production Support
Vessel Overview:

508-foot-long unmanned ATB
Challenge:

Engineering support and regulatory guidance during construction of novel ATB with aggressive delivery deadline.

THE FULL PACKAGE.

The Harvest was the first liquefied gas carrier of its kind to have been built in the US in three decades. It is a 508-foot-long uncrewed Articulated Tug Barge (ATB), designed to carry 22,000 tons of anhydrous ammonia for a subsidiary of Savage Companies. Glosten was brought on board by Vigor to manage regulatory approvals and perform functional design, production detailing, and construction engineering. Our work began with a contract design package—all functional design and engineering was ABS- and USCG-compliant, and the design was optimized for Vigor’s production practices. In addition, Glosten supplied all the engineering required for the shipyard’s product modeling and production detailing.

CHANGING REGULATIONS.

As work was being completed for the Harvest, regulations around the design and construction of uncrewed ATBs were changing radically. These changes, coupled with a lack of US regulatory experience and design standards that specifically applied to gas-carrying barges, meant our team had to adhere to a complicated mix of barge, gas carrier, government, class society, and Owner’s requirements. Glosten was able to negotiate the multi-party agreements for the project’s regulatory requirements and successfully obtain ABS class and USCG approval.

In addition to supplying the contract design package, production engineering, and regulatory navigation, Glosten used CADMATIC for product modeling, developed test procedures, performed lift calculations, and provided launch engineering for Vigor and its subcontractors.

The Harvest dockside in Portland

Construction at Vigor’s shipyard in Portland

Storage tank for the Harvest