Two tugboat operators in North America have expanded their fleets in response to rising demand for inland towage
Two tugboat operators in North America have expanded their fleets in response to rising demand for inland towage
A rebound in demand for transporting products and goods along North American river systems has driven owners to invest in new tugboats.
Bisso Towboat and Osage Marine Services have both taken delivery of new vessels for operations along the Mississippi River system.
In the case of Bisso Towboat, it has introduced the first tractor tug to operate in the river system with propulsion compliant with US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)’s Tier 4 emission requirements.
Andrew S is an azimuth stern drive (ASD) tractor tug with 4,480 kW of total propulsion power and bollard pull of around 84 tons.
Bisso Towboat said Andrew S is also “the most powerful ASD tractor tug in the Mississippi River ship-assist trade”.
Its addition from builder Louisiana-based Main Iron Works increases the total number of tugs in the Bisso Towboat fleet to 13 and “continues our new technology leadership of the Mississippi River ship-assist trade with the largest fleet of ASD tractor tugs” said Bisso Towboat. It operates eight of these types of tug on the Mississippi River.
Andrew S has two Caterpillar 3516E Tier 4F main engines, each generating 2,240 kW at 1,800 rpm. These drive two Kongsberg US255 fixed-pitch Z drives.
This 30.5 m tugboat has two 99 kW Marathon generators powered by two John Deere 4045AFM85 engines. Plus, a JonRie Series 240 escort winch and Simrad navigation and wheelhouse electronics.
Andrew S was built to US Coast Guard’s Subchapter M certification requirements and carries an ABS international load line.
Further up the Mississippi River, St. Louis-headquartered Osage Marine Services took delivery of Charlie T towboat.
This is the first of two towboats that Master Marine is building at its Bayou La Batre, Alabama, shipyard for Osage.
This 20-m vessel was designed by Entech Designs with 1,195-kW of total power from two Mitsubishi rated to comply with EPA’s Tier 3 emissions requirements. These were supplied by Laborde Products and each have 595-kW of power when operated at 1,400 rpm and coupled to Twin Disc 5321 gears.
Laborde Products also supplied two Northern Lights electronic controlled generators that produce 65 kW of power and are EPA Tier 3 compliant.
Charlie T has a pair of Sound Propeller Services 178-cm diameter, four-blade and stainless steel propellers.
Kirby Corp reported a strengthening market for US inland towage when it reported its Q3 2019 results earlier this month.
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