From Monday's Erie Times-News:
Ship comes in for new company
Vessels arrive, await workers for first project
By Dana Massing
[email protected] The Olive L. Moore brought more than a 698-foot-long Buckeye to Erie on Sunday.
The arrival of the tug and barge means work at what the Erie-Western Pennsylvania Port Authority's director said could one day be a major employer. And interviews for some of those jobs begin this week.
"That's just the beginning,"Ray Schreckengost said Sunday after the Olive L. Moore towed the Buckeye to Erie Shipbuilding LLC.
The tug and barge are the first vessels brought to Erie by the new shipbuilder that took over the former Metro Machine building on the bayfront east of Blasco Memorial Library.
The port authority, which owns the shipyard at the foot of Holland Street, awarded a lease this year to Erie Shipbuilding, which is a joint venture of Van Enkevort Tug & Barge and K&K Warehousing.
The work the company already had lined up was one of the features that convinced the port authority to choose Erie Shipbuilding.
"They appeared to be a very strong and very real company,"Schreckengost said.
The shipbuilder's first job will be to convert the Buckeye into an articulated tug barge, said John Chapman, vice president of operations and director of engineering for the company.
He said the Buckeye's stern will be cut off and reconfigured so the 138-foot-long Olive L. Moore will fit into the barge. That will allow them to operate as a single unit, Chapman said.
The tug towed the barge to Erie from Toledo, arriving Sunday morning.
The vessels are expected to be back in service together in the Great Lakes bulk cargo trade, hauling iron ore and limestone, by the beginning of May and possibly sooner, Chapman said.
Another Great Lakes tug, the Joseph H. Thompson Jr., is due at Erie Shipbuilding by the end of this month. Chapman said the tug will come in for re-powering or a new engine and drive system.
Erie Shipbuilding also is committed to building barges and tugs.
Chapman said the new company, which has eight employees now, will be interviewing this week to fill jobs created by the Buckeye's arrival.
"We're glad to finally see it here so we can get to work on what we're really here for," he said.
Erie Shipbuilding is expected to create 200 jobs within its first year, Chapman said.
Schreckengost said other port directors envy what Erie now has.
"They would kill for this type of business," he said. "They would die to have it in their port."
Images of the tow can be found in my album at: http://www.shipspotting.com/modules/myalbum/viewcat.php?uid=39