Tugboats & Towing – Page 276 – Professional Mariner

03 Mar

Economical heavy fuel oil finding its way into the tugboat industry

Professional Mariner StaffTugboats & Towing

Crowley Resolve is a new 9,280-hp ATB. Crowley estimates that it cost several million dollars in additional construction costs to make the vessel capable of burning heavy fuel oil. (Courtesy Crowley Maritime) My theory about bunker fuel is that the stuff is misnamed. Modern fuels have nothing to do with bunkers. The phrase bunker fuel, like many other phrases and…

16 Jan

Foss switches its fleet to ultra low sulfur diesel fuel

Professional Mariner StaffMaritime News, Tugboats & Towing

The tugs Wedell Foss and Garth Foss, which are based in the Northwest, are among the vessels in the Foss fleet that will be switching to ultra low sulfur diesel fuel. The move will reduce sulfur dioxide emissions in the Puget Sound region by about nine tons annually. (Courtesy Foss Maritime) Seattle-based Foss Maritime has taken a bold environmental initiative…

20 Nov

With a history of innovation, AmNav is ready for the future

Professional Mariner StaffTugboats & Towing

Capt. Marc Fankhauser in the pilothouse of the AmNav tug Revolution. (Photos by Alan Haig-Brown) It would be an understatement to call the San Francisco Bay ship docking market highly competitive. As vessel and crew costs escalate, the several fleets that crowd the market fight for share. Among the most forceful of these is AmNav Maritime Services. Upstart schoolteacher…

20 Nov

Slow-to-arrive z-drive units create headaches for tug operators and builders

Professional Mariner StaffMaritime News, Tugboats & Towing

Ocean Henry Bain is a new tug employing controllable-pitch propellers. The vessel is the third in a series of 5,000-hp z-drive tugs built for Ocean Group, a Quebec company that operates on the St. Lawrence River. The tug has Rolls-Royce drives with CP props in nozzles. (Mac McKay) What takes longer than ordering a new Toyota Prius, or, say, obtaining…

08 Nov

Looking for information about New Brunswick ferry and barge

Professional Mariner StaffA Mariner's Notebook, Tugboats & Towing

I am looking for the manufacturer of the articulated tender and ferry barge that operates out of Deer Island, New Brunswick. The barge is the "Hopper I" and the tender "Hopper II". I've attached photos of this very unusual set up.Please contact me if you have any information. Andy Smallsmalla@nwdc.navy.mil

24 Oct

Turn it off!

Professional Mariner StaffA Mariner's Notebook, Tugboats & Towing

It’s 0430 in New York Harbor and promising to be a very busy day. There’s a line of ships stretched out from the “Con Hook” range to Ambrose Tower. I’m steering from the upper wheelhouse of a 4200 hp tug, pushing a light oil barge, and bound for Bayway barge docks. I’m relieved that I’ve managed to stay ahead of…

22 Oct

New tug design goes against high-horsepower trend

Professional Mariner StaffTugboats & 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…

22 Aug

New company launched by towing industry veterans

Professional Mariner StaffTugboats & 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…

06 Aug

New tug simulator makes debut at West Coast training facility

Professional Mariner StaffLicensing & Training, Tugboats & Towing

By Gregory M. WalshÂ 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…

14 May

Foss, with help from port agencies, developing first â€˜green’ tug

Professional Mariner StaffTugboats & Towing

With hybrid power packages popping up in practically every arena, it was inevitable that the tugboat industry would soon come forth with its own version, especially considering the long history of diesel-electric power for tugboats in the last century and for other types of workboats in the current century. Now it looks as though concern over air pollution in the…