Articulated Tank Barge

Waterborne crude shipments out of the Port of Corpus Christi are still growing this year – averaging 700 Mb/d as of May 2015. A veritable armada of barges and tankers has converged on South Texas to help move all that crude. A large part of the shipments are on small inland tank barges plying the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway (GIWW) - a 65 years old canal system that forms a vital backbone for Gulf Coast refiners. Today we describe the changing profile of barge shipments along the Gulf of Mexico.

There are only 42 self-propelled petroleum tankers in the Jones Act Fleet serving the US East, West and Gulf Coasts. Another 49 large ocean going articulated tank barges round out the fleet of vessels that can carry crude oil and refined products between US Ports. Surging domestic crude production and pipeline congestion on land have propelled charter rates for the larger vessels over $100,000 / day in the spot market. Most vessels are fully booked on term charters. Today we examine the ATB fleet.