If you want to understand the special role Q-Ocean Service and its liquefied natural gas (LNG) bunkering barge play in the maritime industry, start by imagining a cruise ship. The massive vessel’s passengers are frolicking on decks, surrounded by the sun and a turquoise sea. Over their heads, giant stacks belch exhaust that can tarnish this idyllic environment. “People are stepping on, feeling and breathing that black soot all day,” said Shane Guidry, the owner of Q-LNG Transport LLC, which built the first articulated tug-barge (ATB) specifically designed to bunker LNG. “When you convert to liquefied natural gas, that completely goes away because you no longer have black soot and smoke coming out of the smokestacks polluting the air … which is why the cruise ship industry was the first…
(BARENDRECHT, Netherlands) — Herman Sr. BV, a Netherlands-based tugboat and workboat company, will add a SM200 wireless, remote-helm control system from Boston-based Sea Machines Robotics to one of its Shoalbuster tugboats, the 76-foot Teddy, to increase productivity and operational safety during offshore operations. The SM200 provides wireless helm and propulsion control, as well as remote control of auxiliaries and payload equipment (including pumps, winches, anchor windlasses and more), freeing mariners from the wheelhouse to conduct operations from any location that offers the greatest visibility and safety. Sea Machines empowers the pilot to be in full control of the tugboat and onboard payloads with a direct local view of the task, as compared to conventional methods that often rely on signals relayed from another crew member to the wheelhouse. Herman Sr.…
In the wake of the El Faro disaster, a federal review of a U.S. Coast Guard initiative to ensure that domestic vessels meet safety management system (SMS) standards found that it is too early to evaluate the effectiveness of these efforts. The report by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) noted that actions taken by the Coast Guard since the tragedy have enhanced the service’s oversight of recognized organizations (ROs). These are third-party companies that the Coast Guard allows to review an operator’s SMS, issue applicable vessel certificates, and perform audits of safety plans aboard each vessel. The Coast Guard’s steps to improve oversight of SMS stem from the incident on Oct. 1, 2015, in which the cargo ship El Faro sailed into the heart of Hurricane Joaquin and sank, killing…
Around this time last year, the tugboat building industry in the United States showed signs of a rebound. They weren’t exactly the “good old days,” but after some lean years the industry appeared heading in the right direction. Then, shortly after the new year, a once-in-a-century pandemic brought economies around the world to a screeching halt. By mid-May, more than 95,000 Americans had died from COVID-19 and more than 36 million lost their jobs from the ensuing economic disruption. Projections about the recovery yield wildly different timetables, ranging from six months to a year to five years or longer. But how soon the economy rebounds, both in the U.S. and in big industrial countries around the world, could determine how soon tugboat operators feel comfortable committing to major capital investments.…
Alaska has notoriously challenging weather conditions and climate. Crowley Maritime built an articulated tug-barge (ATB) rugged enough to safely sail through these icy waters and nimble enough to steer itself into berth. The 128-foot Alaska-class tugboat Aveogan is paired with the 100,000-bbl Oliver Leavitt. The tug and barge pair up through an Intercon C-Series coupler with a first-of-its-kind “modified wave” lightering helmet to allow for ship-to-ship transfers. Propulsion comes from twin 3,384-hp GE Tier 4 engines paired with Schottel z-drives. The double-hulled ATB meets both ABS Ice Class and IMO Polar Code standards. The tug is equipped with a closed-loop ballast system that transfers water between the tugboat and barge as the tugboat burns fuel. Oliver Leavitt is outfitted with spill response equipment to protect Alaska’s pristine waters and…
Tugboat watchers along the Saint Lawrence Seaway between Massena, N.Y., and Lake Ontario will witness a changing of the guard during the 2020 shipping season. The 118-foot Seaway Guardian — a massive, muscular and well-equipped icebreaking tug — will replace the venerable 61-year-old Robinson Bay. The new vessel will perform icebreaking and barge-handling duties in addition to tending aids to navigation on the United States’ 100-mile section of the 2,300-mile marine highway. The Saint Lawrence Seaway Development Corporation (SLSDC) opened its 62nd navigation season April 1. The Seaway consists of 15 locks: 13 on the Canadian side of the border, and the Eisenhower and Snell Locks on the U.S. side. The SLSDC chose Robert Allan Ltd. of Vancouver, British Columbia, to adapt its proven TundRA 3600 ice-class…
For nearly four years, E.N. Bisso & Son’s Gladys B. was the lone z-drive tugboat designed by Robert Allan Ltd. working the Mississippi River. Now, it has some company. Eastern Shipbuilding of Panama City, Fla., delivered the 80-by-38-foot C.D. White in January 2020, and as of April 2020 was building a sister tug. Both are robust RApport 2400-series tugboats outfitted for ship handling and ocean towing. “It’s a go-anywhere tug,” said Mike Killelea, E.N. Bisso’s port captain. By that, he meant ship assist and escort duties over 230 miles of the Mississippi River from Pilottown near the river’s mouth to Baton Rouge, and ocean towing primarily in the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Coast. “The tug is very stable with plenty of power and is the…
P&R Water Taxi built its first Tiger tugboat in 90 days in 2002 after winning a U.S. Navy ship-assist contract in Pearl Harbor. The Honolulu-based company built 10 more over the next nine years as its Navy contracts and ship-assist work took off. Almost two decades later, the original Tiger design has evolved into a nimbler ship-assist platform optimized for Hawaii’s commercial ports. P&R built Tiger 21 and Tiger 22 at its shipyard in Kewalo Basin, located just a few miles west of Waikiki Beach. Company founder and owner Charlie Pires collaborated with Stoddard Marine Design of Hilo, Hawaii, on the design. Tiger 21 and Tiger 22 are essentially next-generation versions of the original 94-foot Tiger tugs Pires and Stoddard developed in 2002. The two series have plenty…
Mazu Capt. Nick Payne stood by while mate Brandon Conner approached the containership Molly Schulte midway between Bayport Channel and Barbours Cut in the Houston Ship Channel. Conner, who was training in real time on the new tugboat, maneuvered to the stern. Ordinary seaman Richard Fernandez attached the heaving line to the hawser and got the line on the ship centerline aft. With Mazu tethered to Molly Schulte, Conner steered to starboard out of the ship’s wake. Mazu ran with the cargo ship on its way to the Barbours Cut Container Terminal. Jobs like this one are common in the Houston Ship Channel, and as ships get bigger, tugboats that work them are getting more powerful and more capable. Mazu, the third Z-Tech 30-80 tugboat in the Suderman…
Capt. Mark Williamson steered Western Towboat’s newest harbor tug into Elliott Bay on a cool, clear late February day. Other mariners working in the busy harbor took notice. “That’s a nice-looking boat,” said David Trickett, who oversaw lightering of gypsum from the bulk carrier Astoria Bay anchored nearby. “Roger that,” Williamson responded. “Taking it for a test run here.” Mariner is the third of Western’s Westrac-series tugboats, and like its two predecessors Westrac and Westrac II, it was built at the company’s shipyard along Seattle’s Lake Union. Capt. Russell Shrewsbury, whose grandfather started Western Towboat in 1948, worked with KraftMar Design and Argonaut Marine, also of Seattle, to fine-tune the plans. Capt. Russell Shrewsbury, seated at the controls, worked with KraftMar and Argonaut Marine to update Western’s proven Westrac…
