If you thought one Google barge was enough, you were wrong. Another “Mystery Barge” allegedly owned by Google is floating off the East Coast, near Maine. Google owns another barge that it had built earlier this year, which floats in San Francisco Bay. The first barge was rumored to be a Google Glass store that would float around and sell products right from the barge.

Google has not released information about the barges, what they contain or even admitted to owning the new barge. Rob Enderle, an analyst at Enderle Group says that he believes the barges are floating data centers. He believes that they use water for cooling and waves for energy. Workers from a fabrication company names Cianbro have been doing undisclosed interior and electronics work on the barge but would not discuss their client or the nature of the work.

A well-connected source in Silicon Valley says that the barges are Google Stores and that the company is working to establish stores without looking like they are chasing Apple. He goes on to say that the barges will float between cities on rivers. While this unique idea may seem exciting and fun, it may not be too practical. Even if the barges are cooled and powered by water, they will likely be very expensive to maintain

Google allegedly ran into some permit issues with their San Francisco barge. According to sources, the barge was not allowed to be docked in the bay because the permit regulations state that something that can be built on land cannot be docked in San Francisco Bay. This makes the mystery of these barges even more interesting and creates a lot more speculation on what Google may be up to.

Do you think the new mystery barge belongs to Google? What do you think is inside and what could they be up to?

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