The keel was laid for this articulated pusher tug at the McDermott Shipyard, Morgan City, LA, on February 21, 1981 as their hull # 259. The tug was launched April 21, 1981 and christened Victory for Texaco Marine Services, Port Arthur, TX. Records show the ownership of the tug passing to Signet Marine, Houston, TX, in June 1990 with Texaco Marine still acting as managers of the vessel. In January 2001, Penn Maritime Inc., Stamford, CT, acquired the ownership and management of the tug, operating it primarily from Slidell, LA. The Victory pushed a 200,000-barrel petroleum barge serving mainly Gulf of Mexico ports in Louisiana, Texas, Florida and the Bahamas.
Victory was purchased by a subsidiary of KK Integrated Shipping, Menominee, MI, in late 2006, and arrived at Escanaba, MI, on its delivery voyage from the Gulf on November 27, 2006. KK used the tug during the latter part of the 2007 season in the notch of the barge Lewis J. Kuber after pulling that barge’s tug Olive L. Moore from service for repairs and upgrading. Victory herself was upgraded by raising the pilothouse an additional eight inches (2.44m), with the lower pilothouse converted to two new staterooms and the connecting system converted to a Hydracon connector system to mate up with KK’s newly-converted self unloading barge James L. Kuber. Following the christening of the barge on March 29, 2008, the pair departed Menominee April 13, 2008 on their maiden voyage as an articulated tug/barge unit bound for Port Inland, MI for a load of limestone. Victory is powered by two MaK 6-cylinder 6MU551AK diesel engines each rated at 3,940 b.h.p. (2,898 KW), the power being fed to two fixed pitch propellers, giving the tug a service speed of 16.1 m.p.h. KK Integrated Shipping, LLC operated and managed the tug.
In February 2011, Rand Logisitcs acquired the tug / barges Lewis J. Kuber and James L. Kuber from KK Integrated Shipping for $35.5 million in cash as well as more than 1.3 million shares of common stock. The two units are operated by Rand subsidiary Grand River Navigation in the stone, ore and coal trades on the Great Lakes. In January 2019 the barge was renamed Maumee.
Written by George Wharton.
| Ship Particulars | |
| Length | 140′ 00″ (42.67m) |
| Beam | 43′ 01″ (13.13m) |
| Depth | 18′ 00″ (5.49m) |
| Engine Power | 7,880 bhp diesel |
| Barges paired with tug | |
| Lewis J. Kuber | 2007 – 2007 |
| James L. Kuber | 2008 – 2011 |
| Maumee (2) | 2011 – Today |