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New towboat part of Enterprise Products growth effort

June 28, 2011
The Christening of the M/V Endurance towboat on June 23 in Houston TX was just the latest step taken by Enterprise Products Partners LP to expand and grow its diverse transportation and storage terminal operations. More projects are underway or are in the planning stages

The Christening of the M/V Endurance towboat on June 23 in Houston TX was just the latest step taken by Enterprise Products Partners LP to expand and grow its diverse transportation and storage terminal operations. More projects are underway or are in the planning stages.

The 84-ft Canal Class towboat is powered by a 2,600-horsepower Caterpillar engine. The new towboat will be used to move pressure barges with LP-gas, as well as barges transporting crude oil and refined petroleum products.

“Enterprise’s Marine Services group serves as a crucial link in our integrated value chain philosophy, a visionary concept upon which Enterprise was built by our late founder, Dan Duncan, and it continues to guide the company today,” Michael A Creel, Enterprise president and chief executive officer, said during the M/V Endurance Christening.

“Along with our towboats and barges, this successful strategy relies on Enterprise’s comprehensive network of interconnected assets, such as pipelines, processing plants, fractionators, storage facilities, and terminals to provide valuable midstream services linking producers and consumers of natural gas, crude oil, refined products, natural gas liquids, and petrochemicals.”

The M/V Endurance is the first of four new towboats that will be added to the Enterprise Marine Services LLC fleet this year. Several new 30,000-barrel double-hull liquids barges also are being added to the fleet. Enterprise has invested nearly $1 billion in the operation, which was established in 2009. By the end of this year, the Enterprise Marine fleet will consist of 64 vessels and 130 barges.

Combined with Enterprise’s trucking (Enterprise Transportation) and terminal assets, the marine transportation operation gives Enterprise the ability to expand into new markets and attract a diverse range of customers, according to Jim Teague, Enterprise executive vice-president and chief operating officer.

Those transportation and terminaling assets are being expanded. A new crude oil storage terminal is under development in Houston and should be operational in 2012. A truck-to-barge liquid bulk transload facility is in the planning stages for the Houston area.