23 Sep

Crowley, Intercon team up in new class of powerful oceangoing tugs

Professional Mariner StaffTugboats & Towing
With a minimum of 150 metric tons of bollard pull and an Intercon towing winch with 500,000 pounds of pulling power, Crowley Maritime’s new Ocean-class tugs are designed for the future. The company, based in Jacksonville, Fla., expects the new vessels to establish Crowley as industry leaders for many years. “Over the lifetime of the boats, they will be towing…
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10 Feb

Michigan’s Sand Products finds opportunities by buying boats during Great Lakes recession

Professional Mariner StaffTugboats & Towing
Port City Tug’s Prentiss Brown, equipped with a Bludworth connection system on its bow, is shown here docked at Muskegon, Mich. Parent company Sand Products Corp. has been acquiring vessels in an effort to gain new business on the Great Lakes. (Courtesy Port City Tug) The shipping business may be down — way down — on the Great Lakes, but…
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20 Jan

Bollard pull testing becoming standard for newly classed tugs

Professional Mariner StaffTugboats & Towing
Foss Maritime’s new hybrid escort tug Carolyn Dorothy undergoes a bollard pull test in Seattle. (Gregory Walsh) Bollard pull testing, which produces a good measure of a tugboat’s pulling power, is becoming standard practice for newly built steel tugs, especially for those that are fully rated by a classification society. While most tractor-style tugs designed for ship-assist work and tanker…
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03 Dec

Paducah thrives from the vessels, crews operating on its many rivers

Professional Mariner StaffTugboats & Towing
Capt. Greg Menke, director of the Center for Maritime Education, demonstrates the Kongsberg simulator, which was recently upgraded. The breakfast lounge at the Drury Inn on the outskirts of Paducah, Ky., was jammed and buzzing with rivermen drinking coffee and exchanging stories. Most were on a crew change, their duffle bags stuffed in corners or behind chairs; their destination, towboats…
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30 Sep

Keeping pace with the towing regulation

Professional Mariner StaffTugboats & Towing
Tugboat companies are feeling the push of existing regulations and licensing requirements and the pull of new ones under development by the U.S. Coast Guard. Regulations, regardless of industry or profession, seem often to be generated by incidents resulting from violations to existing rules. In the marine world the most notable example recently was the towboat Mel Oliver colliding with…
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