Kenny's Loggin: The Georgia Transporter

Oct 20, 2021 - 3 years ago

The Georgia Transporter was built by McKenzie Barge & Marine Ways in 1963. It was registered in the port of Vancouver B.C. and had a gross tonnage of 142 tonnes.

Kennys Loggon - The Georgia Transporter

The length was 24.3m / 80 ft, breadth 8.5m / 28 ft and a depth 2.1m / 7 ft It was powered by 2 Cat 540hp diesel engines with Twin screw, kort nozzle for propulsion. Also on board was a ten ton deck crane. She was designed for loading and unloading heavy logging and construction equipment on beaches. Over the years she had several different owners and in 2019 she was owned by Island Tug & Barge Ltd, Burnaby, BC. In 1990 Island Tug completely rebuilt the Georgia Transporter to a special purpose surface support craft for tending of submarines, ROVs and for anchor handling. Outfitted with her specially designed submarine cable equipment, she becomes a sophisticated cable layer.

One time they loaded some equipment for Nories. Part of the load was a huge Mack dump truck with an Eimco rock drill in the box of the dump truck. This went on the back of the barge, which put the back end of the barge at water level. I can remember hearing my dad asking the crew how the trip went. “We had the f- - - g pumps going all the f- - - g way”

My friend “Tugboat Teddy” tells me she was a the Burrard Shipyard in Vancouver, they put the propellers on and went for lunch. After lunch they launched her and both propellers fell off.

Ken Wilson worked in the logging industry in B.C. for over 50 years. Ken is a regular contributor to Supply Post newspaper with his column “Kenny’s Loggin’”, and resides on Vancouver Island, B.C.