Patent ID: 7007620

Claim:
A self-propelled vessel for transporting floating objects, comprising separate bow and stern sections adapted to be removably fastened together using mechanical means to form the vessel alone and also to be separated and fastened mechanically to a floating object to form a vessel incorporating said floating object as a midship section to transport same, with said bow section comprising at least one anchor, propulsion means, at least one power supply and control means to operate same and a crane unit, and said stern section comprising a propulsion system, at least one anchor, a pilot house and controls for said vessel, which vessel is adapted to incorporate as said midship section an assemblage of floating boxes which are mechanically secured together to form said floating object, wherein said boxes are rectangular parallelepipeds comprising at least one material selected from the group consisting of concrete, metal, wood, plastic and polymeric composites and wherein said boxes comprise a plurality of boxes having at least two different sizes and sets of proportions which permit said boxes to be conveniently shipped together by intermodal means and assembled together to form said midship section of said vessel and to form shoreline structures when removed from said vessel.