McAllister expands US East Coast tugboat fleet

McAllister Towing is preparing to welcome its latest newbuild harbour tug to expand its towage services in US East Coast ports.

The New York-headquartered owner witnessed the launch of Mary McAllister at Washburn & Doughty Associates’ shipyard in Boothbay, Maine.

It is the sixth newbuild of a seven-tug series and has a bollard pull of 84 tonnes resulting from two diesel four-stroke Caterpillar-manufactured Cat 3516E engines, connected to aftertreatment units for US Environmental Protection Agency Tier 4 emissions compliance, driving two azimuth thrusters.

Mary McAllister is the 43rd tractor tug in the fleet, said McAllister Towing, joining recently built sisters tugs, 2025-built Gerard McAllister and 2026-built Isabel McAllister, but "with an upgrade."

This ABS-classed tugboat has a FiFi1 firefighting system capable of propelling 12,000 gallons of water per minute through pumps and monitors.

McAllister said the tugboat will "partake in sea trials in the coming weeks", and the owner expects to take its delivery "in the near future."

Mary McAllister was launched into the water from the shipbuilder’s construction warehouse with one mighty pull from Portland Tugboat’s Roderick McAllister.

This series of 28-m newbuild tugs has two Schottel azimuth Z-drives of type SRP 490 with fixed pitch propellers, two John Deere 4045 AFM85 generators, each developing 99 kW of electrical power, and a Markey DEPCF-52 class-II escort winch with 56 kW of power and render/recover capabilities for 243 m of 10-inch diameter line.