Small but capable new tug in Hawaiian waters: Noke, Smith Maritime

The modern-looking craft with an expansive aft deck is powered by a pair of MTU diesels producing a total of 950 hp through Thrustmaster 52-inch azimuthing z-drives. The tug-like workboat has been working in support of the company’s offshore bunkering service and at offshore oil terminals, transporting pilots and equipment and helping to move barges around local harbors.

Designed by Jensen Maritime Consultants, Noke is the largest craft ever built by Rozema Boat Works of Mt. Vernon, Wash. It has a steel hull and aluminum deckhouses, including the pilothouse.

Noke is the second z-drive-propelled vessel in the Smith Maritime fleet of half a dozen tugs and eight to 10 barges. The star of Smith’s fleet is still the 105-foot z-drive tractor tug Namahoe, built in 1998. [Photo by Mark Freeman, Fremont Tugboat Co.]

The vessel carries a 24-foot beam with less than 8 feet of loaded draft. Its full-load displacement is reported at 136 tons. It carries about 7,500 gallons of diesel fuel and was designed for 10 knots free running speed. The tug was designed and built to carry a large reel for oil containment boom on its aft deck. Its main engines are supplemented by a pair of Northern Lights diesel generators producing auxiliary power.

Noke is the second z-drive-propelled vessel in the Smith Maritime fleet of half a dozen tugs and eight to 10 barges. In addition to inter-island barge towing, the company also operates offshore supply vessels, dive support vessels, oil-spill response vessels, general workboats and water taxis. Noke is new, eye catching and versatile, but the star of Smith’s fleet is still the 105-foot z-drive tractor tug Namahoe, delivered in 1998 from the former Marco Shipyard, Seattle. The company also took delivery of a new 70,000-barrel double-hull oil barge, Noa, built at Zidell Marine in 2002.