The following is the text of a news release from The Great Lakes Group:
(CLEVELAND) — Joncaire II, the first of two tugboats to be built for New York Power Authority Niagara Project, was commissioned during a ceremony hosted by Great Lakes Shipyard and attended by more than 200 on Tuesday, Oct. 20. The sponsor of the commissioning ceremony was Karen W. Penale, real estate administrator, Western Region, New York Power Authority Niagara Project. “With the traditional breaking of the bottle of champagne, she said, “I name this tugboat Joncaire II. May God bless her and all who will sail on her.”
“Today we celebrate the completion of one project and the beginning of another,” said Joseph P. Starck Jr., president, The Great Lakes Towing Company & Great Lakes Shipyard, as he described the commissioning ceremony of Joncaire II and the subsequent keel laying of the new tugboat for Regimen de Pensiones y Jubilaciones del Personal de la Empresa Portuaria Quetzal, in Guatemala.
Great Lakes Shipyard was contracted by New York Power Authority (NYPA) to build and deliver two new tugboats for the Niagara Power Plant’s winter operations in Buffalo, N.Y. The new tugs will augment and replace aging vessels that are used for the installation, removal and maintenance of the Lake Erie-Niagara River ice boom and various associated marine construction projects. Construction for the first tug began last April. The second tug is scheduled for delivery in late 2017.
The new tugs will be specially reinforced for operations in seasonal ice. The design of the conventional-drive tugs includes elevated pilothouses for improved visibility when maneuvering, as well as a spacious work deck aft to facilitate ice boom connections.
The tug construction contract is the company’s second major order from NYPA. In 2010, Great Lakes Shipyard built the agency’s new 80-by-34-foot ice boom operations barge, which incorporates a Terex 80-ton pedestal-mounted lattice boom crane.
A separate ceremony followed marking the keel laying of a new 3,400-hp tugboat to be built for Regimen de Pensiones y Jubilaciones del Personal de la Empresa Portuaria Quetzal, in Guatemala (“Regimen”). Representing the owner at the ceremony was Eduardo De Jesus Paiz Lemus.
