Ashland in Paraguay

A few days ago I mentioned a photo of the former towboat M/V Ashland now running on the Parana River in South America as the IB San Lorenzo. Here, courtesy of a pilot of that boat and a contact in Kentucky, is a photo of the old boat running strong.

Thanks to Doug Rosas and Barry Griffith for the picture.

Several boats that once ran the Ohio have found new life in South America. It sure beats the scrapyard. Adam and I have conversations sometimes about how the industry will change over the next few decades and how many of the boats we see on the river now will have new names and new rivers to run when he gets to be my age.

Adam and I are probably the only father-son duo in West Virginia who, if money were no object, would travel to South America to look for the Ashland, the Pamela Dewey, the Allied-Ashland, the Aetna-Louisville, the Robert P. Tibolt/Indiana, the Orco/Ohio and others. Okay. There may be one or two others, but there can't be very many of us.