PUSHER TUG WITH BARGES

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aukepalmhof
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PUSHER TUG WITH BARGES

Post by aukepalmhof » Thu Dec 14, 2017 8:23 pm

The 6-cent Arkansas River Navigation commemorative stamp was issued October 1, 1968, at Little Rock, Arkansas.
This stamp was in recognition of the economic potential of the $1.2 billion project, which was nearing completion. It eventually provided Arkansas, Kansas, and Oklahoma with a barge route to the Mississippi River and became one of the nation's major inland waterways.
The maritime theme on the stamp is a steering wheel with in the background a pusher tug https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pusher_(boat) with barges on the Arkansa River.
The pusher tug is not identified and the term barge has applied to numerous types of vessel around the world, but mostly the barges used on American Rivers are square flat bottomed barges. The following web-site has more on the American barges: http://www.caria.org/barge-and-towboat-facts/

Why is a towboat called a towboat when it pushes the barges?
The word “tow” comes from the canal age when a draft animal walking along the bank of the canal pulled a barge. As rivermen gained experience with moving barges, they found that, by lashing barges together and pushing them, they could control the barges better and move more of them. The control was especially helpful when navigating the smaller rivers and tight bends in a river.

What is the size of a barge?
The standard barge is 195 feet long, 35 feet wide, and can be used to a 9-foot draft. Its capacity is 1500 tons. Some of the newer barges today are 290 feet by 50 feet, double the capacity of earlier barges.

What is the size of a towboat?
Towboats range in physical size from about 117 feet long by 30 feet wide to more than 200 feet long and 45 feet wide. They draft anywhere from 6.5 feet to 9.0 feet. The boat’s diesel engine can produce power from a few hundred horsepower to 10,000 horsepower. A few are in excess of that, but not many. The larger boats operated on the Lower Mississippi where the water is freeflowing and wide.
How many barges and towboats are there?
There are approximately 26,000 dry cargo barges, 3,000 tanker barges, and 1,200 towboats operating today.

How many barges are there in a tow?
The average tow has 15 barges, but flotillas can go up to 40 barges, depending on the type of cargo, the river segments being navigated, and the size of the towboat. Smaller tributaries, such as the Alabama River, can support only a four-barge tow because of the meandering nature of the river and varying width of the river itself. In addition, the Alabama’s locks are only 84 feet wide and 600 feet long.

U.S.A. 1968 6c sg 1343, scott 1325.
Attachments
1968 barge with pusher tug.jpg

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