A Saltchuk Marine group affiliate has taken delivery of the first of a new fleet of low-emissions tugs on the US west coast
Foss Maritime is enhancing its fleet with four new azimuth stern drive (ASD) tugboats under construction in Washington state, US. The towage and port services group has christened the first of these new escort tugs and selected names for the other three tugs.
Nichols Brothers Boat Builders in Freeland, Washington are building the tugs with engines that comply with US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)’s Tier 4 emissions requirements.
Foss, a subsidiary of Saltchuk Marine, named the first of these ASD-90 design tugs Jamie Ann on 29 February. This tug has two MTU Tier 4 engines producing 5,120 kW of power and selective catalytic reduction systems to reduce particulate and nitrogen oxide emissions to near zero.
Foss will deploy Jamie Ann in mid-March in San Francisco, California, in its habour services fleet for escorting tankers and container ships into terminals on the US west coast.
Sister tugs are scheduled to be named Sarah Averick, Leisa Florence and Rachael Allen and are due to delivered later this year.
“We are building these vessels to the most stringent emissions standards in the world,” said Foss’s naval architect managing the project, Janic Trepanier. “These were built to satisfy the requirements of the State of California – requirements we believe will soon be required in the rest of the country and the world.”
Nichols Brothers upgraded the features to improve wheelhouse visibility, winch operations and crew safety on deck. It also improved crew comfort by installing sound abatement in the engineroom and accommodation.
Fire-fighting equipment will also be installed, with Nichols Brothers including 900 gallon/min fire pumps and monitors, which will be powered from an onboard generator.
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