Saturday, March 3, 2018

Two "new" boats for Marathon


A few weeks ago, a couple of former (?) Florida Marine boats showed up at the Marathon Petroleum dock at  Catlettsburg, Ky. — the Brent Ice and the Gianna Hull.

Rumor had it that Marathon was replacing one or more of its boats with some they had acquired from Florida Marine. I sent an email to Marathon to ask about it, but they replied that they don't comment on their operations.

Three days ago, while going down old U.S. 52 near South Point, Ohio, looking for boats, I saw one f the Florida Marine boats at a Marathon dock at Kenova, W.Va.



I had to shoot through trees and utility lines. There was no other way to get the picture.

From what I have found, the Brent Ice is the Tampa, and it's on the river. The Gianna Hull  has  been renamed the Martinsville, and as of this morning it was still tied up at Catlettsburg. The last  I saw, the Tampa had left the McAlpine Locks and Dam at Louisville at 2:08 a.m. today pushing six barges.

I don't know how the new names for the Tampa and the Martinsville were chosen other than the fact the company has or has had facilities in Tampa, Fla., and Martinsville, Ill. Any information that anyone can share is welcome.