Tim Kraut, president and CEO of American State Equipment (C), presents the key for the Liebherr LH110 material handler to (L-R) Pete Colangelo, vice president of terminal operations, Middle River Marine; Aaron Halcomb, president of Middle River Marine; Marty Ozinga, CEO of Ozinga Ventures; Aaron Ozinga, president of Ozinga Ventures; and Todd Johnson, regional sales manager of Liebherr USA.
(CEG photo)
Moving material and goods around Chicago can be a costly venture, in both money and time. Middle River Marine, a marine and terminal business, handles bulk material for the construction, agricultural and industrial industries. The company was founded in 1998 to support and vertically integrate its parent company, Ozinga, a supplier of ready-mix concrete.
Serving the Illinois and northwest Indiana markets, Middle River Marine began operations as a logistics coordinator on the Great Lakes and inland river system. It currently operates 10 tugboats and 88 barges, primarily in the Chicagoland area.
"We've run the Calumet River to Lemont [about 41 mi.] to the Chicago River [about 18 mi.] in the city," said Mike Hogan, vice president of marine operations of Middle River Marine. "We'll go as far south as our sand mine in Henry, Ill. [about 125 mi.]."
Improving Operations
Recently, Middle River Marine decided it was time to upgrade its material handler. While its 20-year-old Liebherr R984 was still operational and has done a great job for the company, a new machine would increase productivity and uptime.
Jerry Joynt, sales representative of Finkbiner Equipment, made sure to match Middle River Marine with the perfect machine to add to its fleet.
"We spec'd this machine out as the Liebherr LH110 Port model," said Joynt. "The port model has added counterweights and additional capacity for lifting. We also went with the shorter boom and stick combination for their specific application with pig iron here. This will give them the opportunity to lift the most pig iron out of the barge to make them unload faster."
The Liebherr LH110 Port material handler is designed to handle scrap and mixed cargo in port operations. It also has an extremely high load bearing capacity, according to Liebherr. The machine has a reach of 27 meters; operating weight of 105,000 to 115,000 kg and an engine output of 300 kW/408 hp.
Taking Delivery
To celebrate the delivery of the new Liebherr LH110 Port material handler, a ceremony was held at South Chicago terminal on June 29. Those on hand included representatives of Liebherr USA Co.; Finkbiner Equipment Co. (a subsidiary of American State Equipment Co.) servicing all of Illinois and northwest Indiana; American State Equipment Co., a full-line Liebherr dealer, headquartered in Milwaukee, with locations in Wisconsin and Minnesota and servicing some of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan; Liebherr USA; Ozinga Ventures; and Middle River Marine.
"We each have a shared commitment to integrity, excellence, accountability, and innovation across all our operations. These values allow us to build enduring partnerships with like-minded family organizations," said Tim Kraut, president and CEO of American State Equipment.
"Middle River is extremely excited to add the new Liebherr LH110 Port material handler to our fleet as we continue to live out our mission of serving others and the communities in which we work," said Peter Colangelo, vice president of terminal operations of Middle River Marine. "We have partnered with multigenerational family-owned companies [Liebherr and American State Equipment/Finkbiner] to ensure that we have safe, dependable, efficient, state-of-the-art equipment to serve our valued customers. The new LH110 will allow us to expand our ability to handle multiple commodities with larger capacity and efficiency. Today we celebrate a milestone in the history of Middle River by adding the largest Liebherr material handler in the Midwest and establishing our future in the marine and terminal business."
For more information, visit finkbinerequipment.com, amstate.com, liebherr.com, gomiddleriver.com and ozingaventures.com.
Middle River's Unique Tugboat — Gwyneth Anne
The Gwyneth Anne joined the Middle River fleet in June 2017. Built by MBI-Utica Indiana, she is 65 ft. long, 28 ft. wide and 9 ft. deep. The retractable pilothouse is 32 ft.
"The Gwyneth Anne is 65 feet long and at 1,400 hp, is capable of pushing eight barges," said Mike Hogan, vice president of marine operations of Middle River Marine. "Each barge carries 1,500 tons of cargo."
According to Hogan, the unique feature of the retractable pilothouse was designed by Aaron Ozinga, president of Ozinga Ventures.
"It has a retractable pilot house on a hydraulic ram so you can drop it all the way down to duck bridges or raise it all the way to the top so you can see over the top of empty barges. It's kind of a unique Chicago tugboat that can duck all the low bridges in Chicago," said Hogan. CEG
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