Wilfred Sykes

[BigRiver]

The Burton was not made available. ASC will not sell to another company, only for scrap.

[GBGuest]

Central Marine buying a vessel from Rand Logistics is very unlikely, I agree its debatable about if they will spend the $$ on the Sykes, I would be more worried they would pursue leasing a laid up or un-used ASC vessel like the ACORN to haul the Sykes cargoes.

[Darryl]

Maybe CML should have bought the Courtney Burton for the price of scrap. It was almost a sister ship of the Sykes with less "miles" on her. You would have thought ASC would sell it to them...

[Guest]

Given the state of the industry, both currently and going forward (the decline of coal being chief amongst them) I find it unlikely that CML would sink tens of millions into the Sykes...especially if Rand logistics might want to unload their river class boats at a cheap price.

[A J]

Thank you Mr. Lafferty, it's a bit puzzling why the concept of installing new boilers has not been considered in all the repowerings thus far. Turbines are much more durable than diesels and the only real economic issue is the means of producing steam.

[Guest]

Admittedly though, new boilers and related equipment might be cheaper than a new power plant. Comments?

The Sykes has its original boilers manufactured by Combustion Engineering, a firm long gone since its merger with ABB in 1990. Asbestos lawsuits waged against CE almost put ABB under, and I imagine the Syke's boilers contain asbestos insulation considering when they were manufactured, unless they have been remediated, which i doubt. My guess is it would be cheaper and easier to replace the boilers with modern efficient units rather than jettison the turbines and undergo a massive reconstruction of its propulsion areas. Its next boiler survey is due 29 March 2019.

They have removed a lot of asbestos as they come across it. If it is sealed and not fraying or breaking up it is not a problem. Only when it deteriorates is that when you have to remove it. A lot of the new lagging has asbestos-free tags on it.

[William Lafferty]

Admittedly though, new boilers and related equipment might be cheaper than a new power plant. Comments?

The Sykes has its original boilers manufactured by Combustion Engineering, a firm long gone since its merger with ABB in 1990. Asbestos lawsuits waged against CE almost put ABB under, and I imagine the Syke's boilers contain asbestos insulation considering when they were manufactured, unless they have been remediated, which i doubt. My guess is it would be cheaper and easier to replace the boilers with modern efficient units rather than jettison the turbines and undergo a massive reconstruction of its propulsion areas. Its next boiler survey is due 29 March 2019.

[Guest]

I dont think converting a ship is something you just decide to do over nite My guess if they wanted to convert her it would probably be next winter not this one.

[Denny]

I had posted some of the same questions on another thread just like your questions as well. It will be interesting to see what her future holds and if at some point they do try to repower her from steam to diesel. I guess we will just have to wait and see on that what they do!

[ashland69]

I see she's gone in layup in Sturgeon Bay and I understand that there's been considerable trouble with her boilers. With the early layup and in consideration of the upgrades that Interlake is undertaking for environmental issues, might the Sykes be converted to diesel this winter? After all, the Munson, Jackson and Saginaw have all recently been dieselized, why not the Sykes! Admittedly though, new boilers and related equipment might be cheaper than a new power plant. Comments?