Professional Mariner – American Tugboat Review 2024

Overview: Shipyards seeing new equilibrium following challenging post-Covid years

Big-name ship-assist operators have restarted fleet renewal programs. Regional towing companies are once again looking to build. Projects that have sat on the shelf are now going under contract. After three difficult years for shipyards and the tugboat operators considering whether to invest in their fleets, a sense of calm is returning to the harbor tugboat market. Although prices for…

2024 Tugboat of the Year: eWolf

Crowley’s electric tugboat signals cleaner future for U.S. towing fleet eWolf will begin assisting ships in San Diego this spring Crowley Capt. Joshua Ferguson eased eWolf off the dock in the Port of San Diego, spun the vessel 180 degrees and glided toward San Diego Bay. The first electric-powered tugboat in the United States remained eerily quiet as it accelerated…

Signet Sirius turns heads — and tankers — at Corpus Christi terminal

Signet Sirius | Signet Maritime, Houston, Texas Signet Maritime has developed a powerful and highly capable tugboat series designed specifically to escort and maneuver some of the largest oil tankers on Earth. The 7,725-hp Signet Sirius and its forthcoming sister vessel, Signet Capella, were built using the Robert Allan Ltd. Advanced Rotortug (ART) design. The platform features three azimuthing drives,…

Kirby sets a greener course with first U.S. plug-in hybrid pushboat

Green Diamond | Kirby Inland Marine, Channelview, Texas Kirby Inland Marine set a new standard for clean propulsion on the inland waterways with the arrival of Green Diamond, the first plug-in hybrid towboat operating in the United States. The 73.5-foot “eco tug” features a hybrid propulsion system with Corvus Energy lithium-ion batteries, Caterpillar C18 generators, Danfoss electric motors and specialized Reintjes…

TVA hits ‘grand slam’ with first Tier 4 line-haul towboat

Freedom |Tennessee Valley Authority, Muscle Shoals, Ala. Almost four years ago, during the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) began developing its first new towboat in almost 40 years. The government-owned electric utility based in Knoxville, Tenn., didn’t need 10 new boats or even three. It just needed one. And that one towboat had to…

Bay-Houston Towing adds right-sized tugboat to growing Texas fleet

Eden k | Bay-Houston Towing, Houston, Texas Bay-Houston Towing has completed a versatile tugboat series designed to handle ships within the Houston Ship Channel. The 4,426-hp Eden K is the third tugboat in the series of RApport 2600 tugboats designed by Robert Allan Ltd. and built by Master Boat Builders. The 85-by-38.5-foot Eden K delivers 54 metric tons of bollard pull and can hit…

The Great Lakes Towing Company marks another delivery and eyes an electric future

Minnesota | The Great Lakes Towing Company, Cleveland, Ohio The Great Lakes Towing Company’s multiyear fleet renewal program took another step forward in late 2023 with delivery of the 64-foot Minnesota. The 2,000-hp tugboat is the eighth delivery in the 10-boat Cleveland class that went under construction in 2017. Each tug is built using the Damen Stan Tug 1907 Ice…

Tortuga ATB pusher tugboat adds to American LNG bunkering capacity

Tortuga | Seaside LNG, Jacksonville, Fla. It’s a working boat with some glamorous clients. The articulated tug-barge (ATB) pusher tug Tortuga and its barge, Clean Everglades, deliver liquefied natural gas (LNG) to cruise ships — including the biggest one of its kind in the world. That massive cruise ship, Icon of the Seas, launched in January. The nearly 1,200-foot vessel can carry about…

McAllister’s newest tugboat sets high water mark for bollard pull

Grace McAllister | McAllister Towing, New York, N.Y. New York Harbor is at the heart of the United States maritime community. Grace McAllister, the newest tugboat in the McAllister Towing fleet, sets a new standard in the region for raw power. Grace McAllister packs 6,770 hp into a 93-by-38-foot hull design. The result is 85.5 metric tons of bollard pull…

Compact and powerful, Aurora gets the job done on the Houston Ship Channel

Aurora | Suderman & Young Towing Co., Houston, Texas For many years, Suderman & Young Towing Company used smaller conventional tugboats to assist ships into narrow slips in the upper reaches of the Houston Ship Channel. Those tugs have now been replaced by three modern, low-emission, azimuthing stern drive (ASD) tugboats designed to operate in tight confines and shallow waters. …