July 16 - Crowley Maritime Corp has launched its newest heavy lift deck barge, the 455-6, from the Gunderson Marine shipyard in Portland. (See news item posted on the HLPFI website in May - http://www.heavyliftpfi.com/content/SearchItem.aspx?id=403
The barge is the sixth in a series of Crowley heavy lift deck barges which will be built and put into service by 2013.
The 455-6 is the third heavy lift deck barge christened by Crowley this year and the company says that it is scheduled to take delivery of deck barge 455-7 in September and 455-8 by the end of 2009.
Crowley's heavy lift 455 series deck barges have 25 foot (7.62 m) side shells and the capacity and deck strength needed to accommodate larger drilling and production units used for deep water offshore work. They provide increased deck strength for loads up to 4,200 pounds per square foot (0.09 sq m).
