Sheet steel for widening barges

February 2011 – Barges with no engines or cabin and flat decks are used for transportation. They are pushed or pulled by tugs in inland shipping. To widen a barge from 7.2 to 11.4 m, De Boer Staal delivered sheet steel and profiles that will allow the barge to transport wider cargoes.

One of the specialisms of Scheepswerf Vooruit from Zaandam is extending, shortening, widening and converting ships and barges. Rodie Watertransport's number 20 barge was tackled recently. It was widened over its full length from 7.2 to 11.4 metres. This involved slicing the vessel down the middle over a distance of 35 m and inserting a 4.2-metre-wide section, together with the necessary support structures. De Boer Staal delivered 42 tonnes of sheet steel and profiles for the new section.

Time is always an important factor when repairing and rebuilding ships. The faster the ship can get back to work, the better: every day spent in dock costs money. De Boer Staal has the right grades of steel in stock and it can deliver them quickly, so Scheepswerf Vooruit has been doing business with De Boer Staal for more than 15 years now. In that way, De Boer Staal and Scheepwerf Vooruit combined forces to get this job done quickly as well, getting Barge number 20 to work on moving wider cargoes.