Retired barge marks end of an era

TERRY HUTSON IT WAS the end of an era last Thursday (April 29) when members of the maritime community met at Richards Bay to bid farewell to the FFS bunker barge Livingstone, after more than 13 years of dedicated and faultless service. The sturdy vessel, built in Japan in 1968 as the Koyo Maru, was acquired ten years later by Unicorn Lines and renamed Livingstone before being sold to FFS Bunkers in 1984. FFS Bunkers converted the tanker for use as a bunker barge first in Durban and subsequently in Richards Bay, where she pioneered bunker barging in that port.