“Thor”, a new Z-Tech 7500 Class tug, was delivered to its owners, Suderman & Young Towing Company, L.P. of Houston, Texas in July. Built by Main Iron Works of Houma, LA, “Thor” is the first of this new class of powerful ship-handling/escort tug developed by Robert Allan Ltd. Naval Architects of Vancouver, BC. The tug builds on the international success of its smaller cousin, the now well-known Z-Tech 6000 Class. This delivery marks the first Z-Tech tug of any class built in North America.
Thor, and its soon to be delivered sister tug, classed for both harbour and coastal towing and tanker escort duty, will be used in the port of Houston. The Z-Tech 7500 Class tugs are 30 meters (98 feet) long, possess a two CAT 3516B diesel engines each rated 2,348 kW at 1,800 rpm, and are outfitted for a crew of six persons. The tugs were built to ABS Class notation A1 Towing Service, AMS, Escort, Fi-Fi 1.
Another set of three tugs of the Z-Tech 7500 class have recently been contracted with Orange Shipyards of Orange Texas, a division of Conrad Industries, Inc. for delivery in 2008 and 2009.
