This innovative design for a self-propelled container barge from Wärtsilä Ship Design is an environmentally sound option for sea ports. It offers substantial benefits to container logistics in major container ports.
The Port Feeder Barge (PFB), a unique concept, offers port operators a means for reducing congestion caused by trucks moving containers within ports. The highly manoeuvrable, double-ended 168 TEU vessel, is self-sustained, and is equipped with a container crane and spreader.
The PFB’s patented double-ended design is a self-propelled container pontoon and highly manoeuvrable. It carries its own state-of-the-art full-scale container crane, together with all the accessories required to pick up the increasing number of container flats with out-of-gauge cargo. The crane has a capacity of 40 tonnes under the spreader at an outreach of 27 metres.
Equipped with two electrically-driven rudder propellers at each end, the PFB can sail at the same speed either forwards or backwards. Its power comes from a diesel-electric engine plant fitted with exhaust scrubbers for the lowest possible emissions, and the vessel can be operated by a crew of three. It fulfills the highest environmental standards.