NewSouth Delivers Mv. Travis Terral To Terral RiverService
Terral RiverService, the towing company, terminal operator and aggregate supplier based in Lake Providence, La., put into service recently the second of two new towboats from NewSouth Marine Construction, Greenville, Miss. In essence, the new vessels serve to make up a tandem “father-son” combination of boats that Terral RiverService will operate on the Lower Mississippi River. Named the mv. Travis Terral, the 140-foot, 4,560 hp. vessel was delivered in March. The other new towboat is the mv. John C. Terral, delivered by NewSouth in 2021, and similar in size and horsepower, except for its retractable pilothouse.
The vessel’s namesake, Travis Terral, 51, is a commercial and residential realtor and member of Terral RiverService’s board. He is the youngest son of the company’s co-founder, John C. Terral, who formed the company with Tom Gattle in 1992 through a merger of Terral Barge Line and Great River Grain.
Benefitting from customized bulk storage, materials handling and river, road and rail logistics along the Mississippi River system, the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway and the inland waterways of Louisiana and southern Arkansas, Terral RiverService has achieved steady progress, according to its website. “With our growing fleet of towboats, river barges and modern dock operations strategically located throughout the Lower Mississippi River Valley, we are outfitted to transport, handle and store virtually any commodity needed in the marketplace.”
The Travis Terral measures 140 feet in length by 38 feet in width and is 12 feet deep with a 10-foot draft. It has twin Harrington type 37 nozzles and a pilothouse eye level of 41 feet, 10 inches.
The vessel has tankage for 85,000 gallons of fuel, 7,500 gallons of potable water, 2,500 gallons each of hydraulic and dirty oil and 1,500 gallons each of gear and lube oil.
Twin Wabtec 6L250MDC main engines rated 2,280 hp. each from Cummins Sales & Service turn 102- by 98-inch Sound propellers on 11-inch shafts from Mosley Manufacturing. Reduction is 4.524:1 through Reintjes WAF 3445 gears from Karl Senner. Dale’s Welding supplied the 10-inch Wärtsilä seals, and Duramax Marine provided the 11-inch Johnson Cutless water-lubricated bearings.
Two John Deere 150 kW gensets from Engines Inc. provide the boat’s auxiliary power. The engines and generators are cooled by Fernstrum Gridcoolers with jacket water and after coolers. M&I Electric furnished alarms for the generator engines, while the main engine alarms are from GE.
The Skipper steering system utilizes 8- by 53-inch Hanna cylinders and a triplex-super redundant two-speed pump “so smooth, you can’t even feel the boat steer,” said Tim Hovas, owner of NewSouth.
The Travis Terral has heated and air-conditioned accommodations for a crew of seven in five single and two double staterooms with a total of three individual bathrooms, two Jack and Jill bathrooms and a half bath. M&I Electric supplied the Carrier 4-ton units. The deckhouse is furnished with Armstrong Vinyl flooring and 5-inch oak paneling. The machinery spaces in the hull have a ceiling grid installed with acoustical surfaces and sound silencers to reduce noise.
The stainless-steel galley is equipped with two Kelvinator refrigerators and freezers and a KitchenAid electric range along with a KitchenAid dishwasher and trash compactor. The boat has a Sea Horse Type II MSD system. Fire Protection Service supplied a 9-cylinder CO2 fire suppression system.
The pilothouse is furnished with Furuno electronics including radars, AIS, satellite compass and loud hailer. There is also a Rose Point navigation system and multi-camera video system and three Standard Horizon VHF radios, all from Gmeni Electronics. Carlisle & Finch XE9666 searchlights are mounted atop the pilothouse. On deck are two Wintech winches and a Schoellhorn-Albrecht capstan.
The hull is protected by Schuyler fendering, the towknees and headlog by Duramax pusher plates. The hull is coated with Hempel black anti-fouling paint while other surfaces are coated in Hempel enamel from Coating Systems & Supply.
“In the past 22 years, Tim Hovas has built excellent-performing towboats for our company, and the mv. Travis Terral is no exception,” said Johnny Martin, Terral’s chief operating officer. “The Travis is an efficient and economical boat to operate that pushes and handles any of the tows we put on it in a way that exceeds our expectations.”
“NewSouth has built Terral a state-of-the-art boat that is crew-friendly and does its job very well,” he continued. “We are very pleased to add the mv. Travis Terral to our fleet of river boats, and we look forward to many years of operation from this vessel.”
Capt. Danny Bergeron brought the boat out of the shipyard for its maiden voyage with the help of Capt. Randy Young, relief captain; Matthew Mitchell, steersman; Chris Moffitt, chief engineer; Michael Crain, mate; and Eric Alonso, Armillo Henry and Sal Lopez, deckhands.
