Oil has fueled the Texas economy since the Spindletop field near Beaumont began gushing at a rate of 100,000 barrels per day in 1901. This year, Breaux’s Bay Craft of Loreauville, La., delivered Spindletop, a 90-foot pilot boat, to…
Jack K., a 62.5-foot Cummins-powered dredge tender, is described by Weeks Marine’s project manager as a Swiss army knife for the tugboat set. The newbuild will assist dredges, tow dredges, push barges, handle anchors and move pipe, primarily along the…
Notwithstanding the COVID-19 pandemic, dozens of masked passengers lined the gangway of City of New Orleans on a clear January afternoon. The 189-foot, diesel-electric paddlewheeler is the second vessel in the New Orleans Steamboat Company fleet, joining the 265-foot…
A handful of passengers boarded the ferry RTA 2 at the foot of Canal Street in New Orleans on a brisk but bright December day for the crossing to Algiers Point. The riders, masked against the COVID-19 pandemic, represented a…
With a year of the pandemic behind us, McAllister Towing continues to adjust to the effects that COVID-19 has had on the tugboat industry worldwide. “The initial pandemic outbreak brought a slowdown of business, which resulted in a number…
Two years ago, Seastreak LLC took delivery of Seastreak Commodore, a 600-passenger fast ferry, from Gulf Craft of Franklin, La. Designed by Australia-based Incat Crowther, the vessel is the largest of its kind in the United States and was…
The winter of 2018 saw…
As Capt. Steve Brown entered Bolivar Roads at the entrance to Galveston Bay, he opened up the Scania mains, propelling Texas A&M’s new 65-foot research and training vessel up to 22 knots, then demonstrated a very flat turn at speed.
The tugboats Henry Foss and Marshall Foss idled slow bell in the Tacoma, Wash., harbor.
On a summer morning in San Diego, the Crowley Maritime tugs Scout and Tioga slipped their moorings at the Crosby Street pier and headed under the Coronado Bridge to await the Pasha Hawaii 692-foot con-ro vessel Marjorie C.
An azimuthing stern drive tug with 75 tons of bollard pull seems like a lot of muscle to assist in docking a tank barge, but the adage “no job is too small” often rules the day.
It was early March and 20 degrees on the Potomac River, but Capt. Steve McLaughlin was sweating. Fully licensed but working that day as a deck hand on the tug Capt. Kenneth, McLaughlin was struggling with a thick barge line, heavy with ice, across the rail.
Glowing in biblical light, the tug Tate McAllister was transiting out of the Port Everglades entrance channel, bound for the sea buoy and the 758-foot CCNI Valparaiso, steaming inbound.
Commissioned in 1874, the original 148-foot survey steamer/schooner George S. Blake is credited with the first oceanographic survey of the Gulf of Mexico among other accolades for innovation in hydrographic surveying history.
Only the occasional muffled sound emanating from the BAE Systems shipyard across the Elizabeth River from Norfolk’s Waterside Marketplace and the low drone of Elizabeth River Ferry II approaching from Portsmouth cut the quiet of a September morning washing over Hampton Roads.
On the Chicago River, a water gauntlet of old low-slung iron bridges cutting through the heart of American architecture, Chicago’s First Lady Cruises is said to set the standard for class among several excursion companies offering architectural cruises.
The 75-foot tug Sea Cypress has been busy since it was delivered from Rodriguez Shipbuilding of Bayou La Batre, Ala., to Garber Bros. Inc. in March.
The word “unique” gets thrown around with abandon in this age of hyper promotion, but it seems the most apt word to describe the 85-foot schooner America 2.0, a modern high-tech version of the famous 19th-century racing schooner and winner of the first America’s Cup.
It does not take long to realize that firefighter and boat operator Sean Kearns is an ardent enthusiast when it comes to the Clark County Fire Department’s spanking new fireboat, Mary Firstenburg.
The 100-foot azimuthing stern drive tug Ahbra Franco sparkled on a perfect San Francisco Bay morning. Named for the daughter of Harley Marine Services founder Harley Franco, the tug was delivered last September to the company’s subsidiary, Starlight Marine Services,…
On a winter’s day, the 70-mile crossing from Key West, Fla., to Dry Tortugas National Park — Sunshine State or not — can be a cool and rough one.
When Harley Marine Services acquired MGI of Houston in 2011, the Seattle-based company spawned its 10th subsidiary, Harley Marine Gulf, and established itself on all of the U.S. coasts and the country’s commercial inland river system.
LeBeouf Bros. Towing of Bourg, La., named one of its two new 95-foot towboats Karl Senner for the founder of the marine equipment supply company, Karl Senner Inc.
This past spring, the Florida State University Coastal & Marine Laboratory took delivery of the 64.75-foot-by-21.5-foot R/V Apalachee, an aluminum catamaran built at Geo Shipyard in New Iberia, La. The lab is located at St. Teresa on a lonely stretch…
