Snow & Company Inc. has won a contract to build two 50-foot pilot boats for the Crescent River Port Pilots’ Association. The vessels will operate on the Lower Mississippi River.
The all-aluminum vessels designed by Camarc Design have a refined hull with enhanced fuel efficiencies and reduced slamming accelerations, which provide excellent all-around seakeeping capabilities and a pilot-specific shape to facilitate safe boarding operations.
“The Crescent River Port Pilots are very excited about contracting with Snow & Company Inc. to build two custom Camarc Design jet-powered pilot boats to safely service pilot transfers to deep-draft vessels on the Lower Mississippi River at Pilottown,” Capt. E. Michael Bopp, president of the Crescent River Port Pilots’ Association, said in a statement.
The vessels — each with the capacity to carry eight pilots — will be powered by twin Volvo D13-800 EPA Tier 3 marine diesel engines, HamiltonJet water jets and Twin Disc gears. The launches will cruise at 32 knots and have a top speed approaching 35 knots, according to Snow & Company, which is based in Seattle.
The launches will have Stidd helm chairs, Furuno navigation electronics and a FLIR thermal-imaging camera system. Electrical power will come from a Northern Lights generator.
“Safety on the unpredictable Mississippi River is our top priority,” Bopp said. “We look forward to these boats to help us achieve our mission of safely guiding billions of dollars of precious cargo in and out of one of the largest river ports in the world.”