On April 25^th, Great Lakes Ship­yard hauled out the Unit­ed States Coast Guard’s 125’ x 52’ Aids to Nav­i­ga­tion Barge (12001). Using the Shipyard’s 770-ton Marine Trav­elift, the yard lift­ed the 620-ton AToN barge quick­ly and eas­i­ly, and placed it gen­tly on dry­dock­ing blocks with pre­ci­sion and expertise.

Based in Detroit, Michi­gan, the buoy tend­ing crane barge is nor­mal­ly paired with the Ice Break­ing Cut­ter BRISTOL BAY, and serves as a buoy ten­der to han­dle nav­i­ga­tion buoys mark­ing ship­ping lanes of the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Sea­way. The barge will remain in the yard until mid-June under a USCG con­tract for rou­tine main­te­nance and repairs.

Great Lakes Shipyard’s Marine Trav­elift is the largest on the Great Lakes, the 2^nd largest in the west­ern hemi­sphere, and the 3^rd largest in the world.

The ship­yard imme­di­ate­ly began work, which includes but is not lim­it­ed to:

• Rou­tine Inspections
• Heat Exchang­ers Inspec­tion, Hydro Test­ing & Cleaning
• Anchor Wind­lass Inspec­tion & Repairs
• Anchor/Chain Preser­va­tion
• Trac­tion Winch­es Inspec­tion & Repairs
• Gyp­sy Winch­es Overhaul
• Buoy & Car­go Han­dling Crane Inspec­tion & Repairs
• Buoy & Con­struc­tion Deck Preservation
• Ven­ti­la­tion Sys­tems Cleaning
• Fend­er Repair
• Hydraulic Pump Overhaul
• Bal­last Pip­ing Updates
• Thruster Unit Overhaul

The BRISTOL BAY’s AToN Barge is one of two (2) such barges oper­at­ing on the Great Lakes.  The oth­er, which is nor­mal­ly paired with the USCGC MOBILE BAY, is sta­tioned in Stur­geon Bay, Wisconsin.