As part of its new vessel build
program, Crowley Maritime christened the first two of four tugboats in the
ocean class series, Ocean Wave and Ocean Wind, Oct. 25 in
New Orleans. Both tugs are scheduled to begin work this year in the US Gulf for
a customer in the global oil and gas industry.
More than 250 guests, including
friends and employees from Crowley and representatives from Amelia,
Louisiana-based Bollinger Shipyard attended the event. The launch of the new
class of tugboats further solidifies the company’s standing in ocean towing,
salvage and offshore marine support for the upstream energy industry. The ocean
class tugs – which are suited to work with Crowley’s new 455 series high-deck
strength barges, measuring 400 feet long by 105 feet wide – will be outfitted
for long-range, high-capacity ocean towing, rig moves, platform and floating production,
storage and offloading unit tows, emergency response and firefighting.
“We are raising the bar in terms
of reliability, power and environmental friendliness with the addition of these
tugboats,” vessel sponsor Christine Crowley, wife of company chair, president
and CEO Tom Crowley, said. “These new boats will be workhorses for our valued
upstream energy customers and for companies and government entities needing
long-range, high-capacity, ocean towing along with salvage and emergency
response support.”
The newly christened tugs are 146
feet long, 44 feet wide and have a draft of 21 feet. They’re designed to have a
minimum bollard pull of 150 metric tons, and range for the vessels will be
about 12,600 nautical miles at 15 knots free running. They’ll also be outfitted
with twin-screw, controllable-pitch propellers in nozzles and high lift rudders
for a combination of performance and fuel economy.
Two additional ocean class tugs
are being constructed at Bollinger Marine Fabricators in Amelia, Louisiana
according to Crowley Maritime, and are scheduled for delivery in 2013.
