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Boutique Riverboat Louisiane Makes Her Way
Slowly South From Portland, Oregon, To Her New Home Port Of New Orleans
The tug Jack Brusco and her tow of the Louisiane head down the Columbia River to
the open sea
Last Friday evening, June 24, saw the 347-ton ocean tug Jack Brusco pick up her
tow of the 150-berth boutique river cruiser Louisiane, loaded and secured on
board the deck of the semi-submersible barge Columbia Newark, which can also
double as a container barge.
The Louisiane was built in 2000 as Columbia Queen, the last riverboat to be
built by the New Orleans-based Delta Queen Steamboat Company. Her new owner, the
Great Northern & Southern Navigation Co LLC, trading as the French America Line,
is also New Orleans-based.
In the scene above, she is shown leaving the Columbia River in the State of
Washington to her new home in Gretna, Lousiana, part of the Port of New Orleans
where French America Line will have its own dedicated terminal.
 The
Louisiane, ex-Columbia Queen, is loaded to the semi-submersible barge Columbia
Newark
The 4,332-ton Louisiane has now passed San Francisco and is nearing San Luis
Obispo on her way south along the long Mexican coast to Panama. Once she arrives
at New Orleans in mid-July she will go to Bollinger Shipyards for drydocking and
will then commence a major refit to convert her into a luxury boutique river
cruiser.
The full tow can be followed by AIS on
this link.
The Louisiane is due to enter service on September 30, 2016, with a Pullman
train linking from Chicago for an Upper Mississippi cruise from St Louis,
Missouri, to St Paul, Minnesota. More details of the 2016 season can be found
here.
For a longer 14-night exclusive Cruiseco charter from New Orleans to Nashville
in October there is at the moment an offer of half off for the second passenger. |
