22 Oct

New tug design goes against high-horsepower trend

Tugboats & Towing
Great Lakes Towing is building two  78-foot prototypes. The tugs' propulsion systems will be in the 2,800- to 3,200-hp range. (Courtesy Jensen Maritime Consultants) Great Lakes Towing is a century-old company that is undergoing a rebirth. At its well-worn shipyard on the Cuyahoga River in Cleveland, it has built a new $4 million headquarters office building attached to the new…
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22 Aug

New company launched by towing industry veterans

Tugboats & Towing
Busy days in the tug industry naturally lead to the establishment of new tug companies. This time it's a classic start-up story courtesy of Dominique and Rachel Smith, both veterans of the towing industry. They have established a one-boat towing company called TradeWinds Towing LLC, based in St. Augustine, Fla.As of early June, Trade-Winds had just completed its first towing…
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06 Aug

New tug simulator makes debut at West Coast training facility

Licensing & Training, Tugboats & Towing
By Gregory M. Walsh  Pacific Maritime Institute in Seattle has developed a training program incorporating what it said is the only full-scale marine simulation program in the United States developed exclusively for tugboat operators. PMI's marine simulation theater, designed as an actual tugboat wheelhouse, includes full controls for tractor-style tugs and conventional tugs, simulation programs involving typical tugboat scenarios and…
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28 Mar

Bouchard’s ATB fleet leads the pack

Tugboats & Towing
It is hardly a race, but Bouchard Transportation of New York finished up in 2006 with the largest fleet of articulated tug barges (ATBs) in the nation. Other East Coast companies, notably Penn Maritime and K-Sea Transportation, are seemingly working hard to best the Bouchard ATB fleet.At the end of the year Bouchard, which has been converting existing tug-barge assets…
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22 Mar

Towing winches: Brute machines for offshore tugs

Tugboats & Towing
Aside from those massive diesel engines, the real brute force found at the heart of every offshore tugboat is its towing winch. Almost nothing is towed in offshore waters without a towing winch. And no matter how modern the rest of a tug's equipment, the towing winch has changed little from its original design.   The winches that get all…
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01 Mar

Compelling electronic displays may have contributed to collision

Tugboats & Towing
Over-reliance on an electronically integrated navigation system by an inadequately trained operator may have played a significant role in a collision between Atlantic Huron and the Canadian Coast Guard buoy tender Griffon in September 2000, the Transportation Safety Board of Canada has concluded. The collision occurred on western Lake Erie at night in good visibility. The Coast Guard vessel was…
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28 Feb

In response to terror concerns, AIS website limits access to live data

Tugboats & Towing
A British-based company has stopped offering on its free website live, detailed automatic identification system (AIS) data gathered from networks worldwide after a shipping organization complained terrorists or pirates could use the information to endanger shipping. AIS Live Ltd., a Dutch-British company decided to limit vessel information on its public website and restrict the more detailed service to annual subscribers,…
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28 Feb

2004 Plimsoll Awards won by Mississippi river pilot, Coast Guard R&D Center for support of AIS

Maritime News, Tugboats & Towing
The editors of Professional Mariner have presented the Plimsoll Awards for 2004 to Capt. Douglas J. Grubbs of the Crescent River Port Pilots' Association and to the U.S. Coast Guard's Research and Development Center in Groton, Conn. Grubbs and the R&D Center were honored for their work in developing automatic identification system technology and promoting its acceptance by mariners. Rear…
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