Business Sectors
Events
Floating energy: successfully unlocking stranded gas using FLNGs and FSRUs
24 Feb 2026
GMT - ONLINEContents
Register to read more articles.
Gulf LNG expands Texan terminal support fleet with newbuilds
A joint venture between four US owners has expanded its fleet of tugboats to handle gas carriers at an LNG export terminal, following their launch at an Alabama shipyard
Master Boat Builders (MBB) has launched the final tugboat it is building at its shipyard in Coden, Alabama, for a partnership between Gulf LNG Tugs of Port Arthur and Moran Towing Corp.
These 28-m tugs were built to Robert Allan Ltd’s RApport 2800 design to manoeuvre and handle gas carriers at LNG terminals on the US Gulf Coast. Jill is the sixth and final vessel of this series, of which two are destined for Gulf LNG’s fleet in Port Arthur, Texas.
This joint venture is comprised of Bay-Houston Management, Bay Towing, Moran Towing and Suderman & Young Towing.
MBB said Jill, and a similar RAmpart 2800 tug it has built, will join Gulf LNG’s fleet in Port Arthur in Q1 2026 after their completion and commissioning.
These ABS-class tugboats each have a beam of 12 m, a bollard pull of more than 85 tonnes, a FiFi1 class fire-fighting system and a Markey DESF-48-100 electric class III hawser winch.
When they were ordered in 2024, Moran said their propulsion systems would consist of two Caterpillar-manufactured Cat 3516 E main engines connected to an aftertreatment system, to minimise NOx emissions and to meet US Environmental Protection Agency Tier 4 requirements.
These four-stroke, high-speed diesel engines drive two Kongsberg US-255 azimuth thrusters, each in Z-drive formation with a fixed-pitch propeller in a nozzle.
“We are working alongside Moran and Gulf LNG on projects that strengthen maritime safety and efficiency in critical energy corridors,” said MBB president Garrett Rice.
When Gulf LNG Tugs of Port Arthur ordered these two tugs, it also contracted Sterling Shipyard to build two more in Port Neches, Texas.
MBB has built four other RApport 2800 design tugs for Moran Towing’s fleets operating in the US Gulf and the US East Coast.
Riviera’s 28th International Tug & Salvage Convention, Exhibition & Awards will be held in Gothenburg, Sweden, in association with Caterpillar, 19-21 May 2026. Use this link for more details of this industry event and the associated social and networking opportunities.
Related to this Story
Events
Maritime Regulations Webinar Week
16 Dec 2025GMT - ONLINEFloating energy: successfully unlocking stranded gas using FLNGs and FSRUs
24 Feb 2026GMT - ONLINE
© 2024 Riviera Maritime Media Ltd.
