Crowley Completes Discharge of Gas Plant Modules and Equipment Across Beach in Angola,...

Crowley Completes Discharge of Gas Plant Modules and Equipment Across Beach in Angola, West Africa

HOUSTON--(Business Wire)--Crowley Maritime Corporation's energy and marine services unit
announced today that it has safely completed the tug-and-barge
transportation and discharge and delivery of oversized cargo across a
remote beach in Cabinda Province Angola, West Africa to the Cabinda
Gas Plant.

In partnership with Chicago Bridge and Iron (CB&I) and Cabinda
Gulf Oil Company (CABGOC), a wholly owned Chevron subsidiary, Crowley
was contracted for the loading, marine transportation, discharging and
delivery of oversize modules and support accessories to the Cabinda
Gas Plant, which is about three miles from the beach landing point.
The fleet required for the sealift included large (400-foot by
100-foot) barges, powerful ocean going tugs, small lighter tugs to
assist in the beaching operation and a myriad of support equipment.

The initial tug and barge departed Houston Sept. 14. The second
and third tug and barge combinations sailed at staggered intervals
thereafter, and the final pair of vessels left Houston Oct. 21. The
journey from Houston to Cabinda Province is over 6,600 nautical miles
requiring approximately 40 days at sea. The transportation and
discharge of all of the cargo from the four tug and barge tandems
concluded Dec. 2.

Upon arrival at the beach in Cabinda Province, Angola, the Crowley
team safely maneuvered the barges ashore, ballasting and anchoring
each in position to avoid the sub-sea pipelines in place nearby.
Drawing on previous remote beach landing experience in the Russian Far
East, the team assembled a bridge from the barge to the beach using
ramps and flexi-floats to discharge the cargo from the barge.

The Crowley multinational team at the job site consisted of 34
personnel from the United States, Russia, Brazil, Italy, Venezuela,
the Ukraine, Netherlands and the United Kingdom. They worked 17,136
man hours without a lost time incident, setting offshore moorings,
beaching barges, making roads, and providing heavy lift and land
transportation services. Cargo handled included a 120 foot long, 90
ton Deethanizer Column, containers, structural steel and three Motor
Control Center (MCC) buildings. The largest MCC building measured 75
feet long by 25 feet wide and weighed 126 tons.

"We very much appreciate the opportunity to be of service to
Chicago Bridge and Iron and Chevron," said Tom Crowley Jr., company
chairman, president and CEO. "Our experienced, capable team worked
very closely with their team to make sure we delivered their cargo
safely and in accordance with their requirements."

"As energy companies go to the ends of the earth to find and
extract oil and natural gas, Crowley's energy and marine services
group is helping to make that possible," said John Douglass, Crowley
senior vice president and general manager, Atlantic/Gulf region.
"We're providing transportation, logistics, project management, marine
consulting, and risk assessment services in some of the most
challenging environments in the world. From the North Slope of Alaska
to the Russian Far East to Africa to deepwater Gulf of Mexico, Crowley
has been there and done that safely with knowledgeable experts,
high-horsepower oceangoing tugs, large heavy-lift, flat-deck barges
and other specialty equipment."

In four of the past six years, Crowley has performed major open
beach remote landings in three different locations in two countries
for world-class Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC)
contractors including CB&I, Bechtel Corp., Enka Construction &
Industry Co., Inc., and ABB, all of whom provide a wide-range of
services to major oil companies such as ExxonMobil, Shell and Chevron.

Crowley is able to bring many resources to major projects.

"We have a core project management team that is very diverse in
its ability and knowledge," said John Ara, Crowley's director of
marine operations in the U.S. Gulf. "We have found that as project
requirements change, we're able to draw from specialized personnel
from all Crowley business groups, disciplines and locations to augment
this team, which has proven very effective."

"Our project management team is flatly organized so that we can be
responsive to our customers' needs and changes in scope and work," Ara
said. "We place a great deal of emphasis on integrating our project
management team with our customers to facilitate open communication.
In fact, our senior project managers typically take an office in our
customers' locations to become part of their teams."

Each remote beach landing project has its own challenges, which
Crowley uses to innovate.

"We have found uses for equipment for means other than which they
were designed," Ara said. "We've used flexi-floats to build dry
bridges/causeways and outfitted heavy construction equipment like
front-end loaders with forks for lifting and transporting cargo over
difficult terrain."

Jacksonville-based Crowley Maritime Corporation, founded in San
Francisco in 1892, is a privately held family and employee-owned
company that provides diversified transportation and logistics
services in domestic and international markets by means of six
operating lines of business: Puerto Rico/Caribbean Liner Services,
Latin America Liner Services, Logistics Services, Petroleum Services,
Marine Services and Technical Services. Offered within these operating
lines of business are the following services: liner container
shipping, logistics, contract towing and transportation; ship assist
and escort; energy support; salvage and emergency response; vessel
management; vessel construction and naval architecture; government
services, and petroleum and chemical transportation, distribution and
sales. Additional information about Crowley its subsidiaries and
business units may be found on the Internet at www.crowley.com.

Crowley Maritime Corp., Jacksonville, Fla.
Mark Miller, Director, Corporate Communications
904-727-4295
miller@crowley.com
or
Crowley Maritime Corp.
Jenifer Kimble, Sr. Specialist, Corporate Communications
904-727-2513
jenifer.kimble@crowley.com

Copyright Business Wire 2008