The Waterways Journal
19 June 2006
By Nelson Spencer Jr.
Recently two of the largest Pittsburgh-based barge operators merged. Mon River Towing Company was bought by Consol Energy on January 20 of this year.
Twin Rivers Towing is the barge and towboat operating division of Consol Energy.
The two experienced firms have combined resources to improve their operations and service to customers, said Dick Ehringer, general manager for Mon River Towing.
Some adjustments have been made to their operations. For example, all dispatching now occurs out of Mon River's office in Belle Vernon, Pa. However, for the time being, the two operating divisions of Consol, Mon River Towing and Twin Rivers Towing, will continue to operate as separate entities. They both will have the Consol logo on their stacks, but each company will be distinguished from one another as the company name will appear under each logo.
The next phase of the transition includes plans for a new office building. Both offices, currently in Elizabeth and Belle Vernon, Pa., will relocate to one central location. The new office will be in onessen, Pa., just below Lock 4 at Mile 40.6 on the Monongahela River. Construction is expected to be complete in approximately one year.
Major repairs are underway on Mon River Towing's 3,200 hp. Howard S. Guttman. Earlier this month, the 143- by 34-foot towboat returned to the Cape Girardeau shipyard where it was built.
Extensive underwater work is estimated to take 60 days.
Missouri Dry Dock & Repair Company Inc. is doing the repairs; the yard was known as Missouri Boat & Machine Company in 1952 when it built the Guttman.
Mon River Towing is having the shipyard recondition the intermediate and tail shafts and replace the bearings, which are oil-lubricated, with water-lubricated rubber bearings.
When built, the Guttman did not have conventional steering rudder trunks, so Missouri Dry Dock is installing new ones along with strut housings, hydraulic cylinders and arms. Workers will also rebuild the flanking rudders and replace centerline keel plating, as needed.
Other work includes restoring the nibrail, replacing winches and fuel tank hatches, reconditioning the four-blade stainless-steel propellers and repairing the tow knees. Interior work consists of installing new flooring, redesigning the pilothouse console and painting. Crews will also sandblast and paint the exterior.
Missouri Dry Dock also has the mv. Sherman A. Waxier in for similar repairs on its steering rudder trunks, which seemed unusual to President Rob Erlbacher who could remember only one other time in his 36 years that two boats were in the yard at the same time for that particular repair.
"Those areas just don't wear out," he said.