Professional Mariner – American Tugboat Review 2023

Rising costs and uncertainty hinder demand for new tugs

Anyone in the market these days for a large purchase of any kind, from a vehicle to a camper to a home, knows the feeling well. It’s one of sticker shock following several years of fast-rising costs. It’s no different for tugboat operators looking to build a new vessel. And it’s one of many factors that have, taken together, helped…

A window into the world of tugboat design

Robert Allan Ltd. is known around the world for its sleek, innovative and high-performance tugboats. But the firm got its start in the 1920s designing yachts, small ferries and fishing vessels. The company, which is based in Vancouver, British Columbia, didn’t design many tugboats until the 1950s. The timing coincided with a broader shift within the industry from wooden hulls…

Winch innovations promise to improve towing operations, capabilities

It goes without saying that winches are a critical component in the operation of almost any tug. With rapid evolution in the vessels being handled and in the tugs themselves, including application of novel power plants, there’s a lot more to winches these days than just “bigger and better.” According to interviews with three winch providers, there is some confusion…

With COI in hand, freshwater workhorse Syracuse approaches a century of service

The New York State (NYS) Canal Corporation has demonstrated that age is no impediment to complying with the Subchapter M requirements. Its tugboat Syracuse, launched in spring 1934 from a NYS Department of Transportation shipyard in Syracuse, N.Y., recently received its Coast Guard certificate of inspection (COI) required under Subchapter M. Key to the process were the efforts of Syracuse…

Tugboats lead U.S. maritime industry into greener future

Maritime propulsion companies are fielding a broad spectrum of powerplants to meet emerging market need, and tugboat designers and builders must make them work in the real world. Tugboats have been assisting commercial ships safely into port for more than 200 years. Modern iterations of these workhorse vessels have been powered by fossils fuels. Now, under pressure from regulators, bankers…

Boyce B. | Weeks Marine | Cranford, N.J.

Boyce B. gives Weeks Marine new capabilities at the dredge site Earlier this year, as the calendar rolled over from winter to spring, Weeks Marine welcomed a new dredge support tugboat with the delivery of the 1,600-hp Boyce B. Rodriguez Shipbuilding built the 72-by-30-foot pushboat using plans from Entech Designs. It has the same Cummins main engines as the…

Seaway Trident | Great Lakes St. Lawrence Seaway Development Corp. | Massena, N.Y.

Nimble Seaway Trident will keep commerce moving along the St. Lawrence River The St. Lawrence Seaway System represents a critical part of America’s industrial economy. A new ice-strengthened tugboat will help keep the waterway open and the cargo moving. The 60-foot, 1,320-hp Seaway Trident entered service earlier this year for the U.S. Great Lakes St. Lawrence Seaway Development Corp. (GLS)…

Indiana | The Great Lakes Towing Company | Cleveland, Ohio

Indiana helps build new traditions for Great Lakes Towing Co. In a world that has become increasingly complicated, simple is often better. That’s the concept that influenced the design and development of the 2,000-hp Indiana, the seventh in a series of 10 Cleveland-class tugboats being built by Great Lakes Shipyard for its parent company, The Great Lakes Towing…

Eva | Suderman & Young Towing Co. | Galveston, Texas

Compact and powerful, Eva works where others can’t The goal was challenging: Design, build and deliver a tugboat equipped with the latest propulsion that is powerful and yet smaneuverable enough to take on the most challenging tasks with the added capability of operating in narrow, shallow draft harbor slips. That goal was more than met with the delivery of the…

Titan | Seabulk Towing | Port Arthur, Texas

Seabulk Towing completes innovative four-tug order from Master Boat Builders Seabulk Towing has completed its four-tugboat order with Master Boat Builders, adding two hybrid ship- assist tugboats and two Advanced Rotortugs (ARTs) to its Gulf Coast fleet within barely a year. The two newest tugboats are the 98.5-foot diesel-electric hybrid Titan, which operates from the energy and petrochemical hub…