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Great Lakes Towing News

17 Jan 2024

Menoyo Joins Great Lakes Towing Company in VP Role

Salvadore Menoyo (Photo: The Great Lakes Towing Company)

The Great Lakes Towing Company (GLT) has hired Salvadore Menoyo for its business development team.Sal has been named Vice President-Special Projects, reporting to Joe Starck, President of GLT. He will be based in Jacksonville, Fla. and use his extensive experience and expertise to identify, develop and manage new business opportunities on the East Coast, including the Gulf and Puerto Rico. In this new role, Menoyo will work with internal and external customers and build relationships with partners and other prospects to bring value and growth to the company.Menoyo…

21 Nov 2023

Great Lakes Towing Buys Historic Fireboat

(Photo: The Great Lakes Towing Company)

The Great Lakes Towing Company (GLT) announced it has acquired a 62-year-old fireboat from the city of Cleveland, Ohio.The vessel, Anthony J. Celebrezze, was constructed in 1961 by Paach Marine in Erie, Pa. and was used by the Cleveland Fire Department until it was replaced with a new vessel, Garret A. Morgan, in June 2023 and put up for auction.Auction data shows the vessel was sold on November 14 for just over $41,000, including a 12.5% buyer's premium.GLT said its Great Lakes Shipyard division is very familiar with the Anthony J.

31 Jul 2023

Great Lakes Towing Christens Two New Tugs

(Photo: Great Lakes Towing Company)

The Great Lakes Towing Company on Friday christened two new tugs in Chicago.The vessels, Illinois and Indiana, are part of a series of 10 new Damen 1907 ICE tugs built in Cleveland by Great Lakes Shipyard, a sister company to the Towing Company—both part of The Great Lakes Group.The 64’x24’x11’ tugs are each powered by two 1,000-horsepower MTU 8V4000 Tier III diesel engines, and generate over 30-tons of bollard pull. Their propulsion systems include the Canal-Marine-designed Logan FlexaDrive Hybrid power system…

22 Jul 2022

MARAD Awards $19.6 Million in Small Shipyard Grants

(File photo: Gladding Hearn)

The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Maritime Administration (MARAD) announced $19.6 million in grant awards to 24 small shipyards in 19 states through the Small Shipyard Grant Program.The funds will help awardees—many of which being family-run businesses—modernize, increase productivity and expand local employment opportunities while competing in the global marketplace, MARAD said.“Small businesses are the lifeblood of the American economy, and small shipyards play a critical role in America’s maritime industry, helping us get the goods we depend on every day,” said U.S.

02 May 2022

USACE Buffalo Leasing Great Lakes Tug

The tugboat Don Raul, a 74-foot, 2,800 horsepower, twin-screw seagoing tug, built by Great Lakes Shipyard in 2008, at work on the water. (Photo: Great Lakes Towing)

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), Buffalo District awarded a $8.4 million contract to Cleveland-based Great Lakes Towing on April 20 for lease of the tugboat Don Raul to serve on the Great Lakes.The boat will primarily be used on Lake Erie between Buffalo, N.Y. and Toledo, Ohio, but may serve all the way to Massena, N.Y., towing the Buffalo District’s repair fleet. The fleet is one of three strategically located across the Great Lakes, providing a flexible, rapid response…

07 Apr 2022

Great Lakes Towing Acquires Sarter Marine Towing

Sarter Marine Towing Company Inc. announced it has agreed upon definitive terms for the sale of Sarter to The Great Lakes Towing Company.Under the deal, The Great Lakes Towing Company purchased Sarter tugboats Donald J. Sarter and William C. Selvik, as well as all supporting machinery and equipment and most other shoreside assets. The remaining five tugs in Sarter’s fleet will be chartered to the Towing Company under a long-term bareboat charter arrangement. The acquisition closed on March 23, 2022.Great Lakes has retained all Sarter Marine employees and will supplement the business with administrative and financial support to help support and enhance Sarter’s current book of towing business in the region.Last fall…

02 Dec 2021

Great Lakes Towing Acquires Plotz Machine

The Great Lakes Towing Company announced it has purchased The Wm. Plotz Machine & Forge Company.The acquisition, which includes all Plotz Machine’s assets and real estate, increases the services provided by Great Lakes and allows the company to now offer marine and industrial machine shop services to all types of customers, including shipyard new construction and ship repair. The transaction closed on Tuesday, November 30, 2021.Great Lakes said it has retained all employees of…

19 Nov 2021

Great Lakes Towing Expands Services to Sturgeon Bay

(Photo: The Great Lakes Towing Company)

The Great Lakes Towing Company said it is expanding its harbor towing and ice breaking services to Sturgeon Bay, Wis.The Towing Company has undertaken a fleet renewal program that began with the laying of 10 keels in August 2016. Since that time, the company has added five new Damen Stan 1907 ICE design tugs to its fleet, with the sixth new tug being delivered next month, and the seventh in Spring 2022.There will now be two Towing Company tugs stationed in Sturgeon Bay full-time, including a former Navy YTB.

30 Sep 2021

Great Lakes Shipyard Wins $1.9 Million in Government Contracts

(Photo: Great Lakes Shipyard)

Great Lakes Shipyard, a division of The Great Lakes Towing Company, has recently been awarded government contracts amounting to more than $1.9 million.The contracts, which could be valued at nearly $2.5 million if all options are exercised, include haul out, maintenance, and repair work of the following vessels: U.S. Coast Guard: Cutter KATMAI BAY; and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers: Detroit District Floating Plant (Tug DEMOLEN and Crane Barge VELER); and Buffalo District Barge BC6214.Great Lakes Shipyard is a regular provider of maintenance and repair services to the federal government…

24 Dec 2020

Great Lakes Group: Venerable & Versatile

“…We have built our reputation job by job, boat by boat, and tow by tow, and we intend to continue to do so.”The Great Lakes Towing Company (GLT) and the Great Lakes Shipyard are core businesses within The Great Lakes Group of Companies, based in Cleveland, on the Old River, a shipping channel that runs west from where the Cuyahoga River meets Lake Erie. Company towing operations extend from Buffalo, N.Y. in the east to Duluth, Minn. in the west. Great Lakes Towing owns and operates the largest U.S.-flagged tugboat fleet on the Great Lakes, serving more than 35 ports in all eight U.S.

17 Dec 2020

Great Lakes Towing Christens New Tug Pair

(Photo: Paul C. LaMarre III)

The Great Lakes Towing Company and Great Lakes Shipyard christened the newly built tugs Pennsylvania and Wisconsin at the company’s Cleveland facilities on Wednesday.“Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, it is remarkable that the Towing Company has persevered with the successful completion of these two new tugs, despite the adversity the pandemic brought to bear, not only on us, but the industry, not to mention the country and the entire world. The Towing Company, as always, showed its resilience and its resolve to muscle through these difficult conditions…

30 Nov 2020

Interview: John Batten, CEO, Twin Disc

John Batten (Photo: Twin Disc)

How have major events such as the U.S./China trade war, oil price fall and COVID-19 impacted Twin Disc’s commercial marine business to date, and what adjustments have you made in response?These are the three things that I’ve been highlighting in employee communications and with investors over the last few months. For us, COVID was just the third punch after the other two. China is typically our second largest market after the U.S., and we lost lots of orders to our competitors as the trade war started to affect us. It’s rebounding a little, but it definitely impacted our sales into China.

02 Nov 2020

US Shipyards: Always on the Job Hunt

Gulf Copper & Manufacturing Corp is constantly on the lookout for quality tradesmen. (Photo: Gulf Copper)

American shipyards form an important economic engine, supporting nearly 400,000 jobs, $25.1 billion of labor income and $37.3 billion in gross domestic product (GDP), according to figures from the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Maritime Administration (MARAD).It’s a good thing, then, that U.S. shipyards were deemed essential businesses amid COVID-19 and have remained up and running throughout the pandemic. And it’s even better that most yards have been able to keep their workers employed despite less than stable market conditions…

16 Sep 2020

New Legislation Aims to Boost Great Lakes Icebreaking Capacity

File photo: The U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Mackinaw (WLBB-30) breaks ice and maintains Aids to Navigation across the Great Lakes. (U.S. Coast Guard photo)

New legislation introduced by U.S. Senators Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), Todd Young (R-Ind.) and Gary Peters (D-Mich.) will codify the U.S. Coast Guard’s icebreaking mission on the Great Lakes and increase the icebreaking capacity of the Great Lakes fleet.The Great Lakes Winter Commerce Act aims to increase Great lakes icebreaking capacity, which the lawmakers say will help the businesses and workers that rely on the maritime industry to transport their goods to market and grow the regional economy.“In recent years…

18 Jun 2020

Great Lakes Shipyard Launches Tug Wisconsin

(Photo: The Great Lakes Group)

The Great Lakes Shipyard on Wednesday launched the new tug Wisconsin, the fifth in a series of 64-foot Damen Stan tug 1907 Ice design harbor tugs that the Cleveland, Ohio shipyard is building for The Great Lakes Towing Company.Wisconsin, like its sister tugs, is powered by two 1,000-horsepower MTU 8V4000 Tier III diesel engines, and generates over 30-tons of bollard pull. Its propulsion system includes the Logan FlexaDrive Hybrid power system, allowing the tug to operate on electric power while at idle…

04 May 2020

Metal Shark Delivers Towboat to FMT

The new towbaot Stephanie Pasentine is the first buily by Metal Shark at its Alabama shipyard acquired from Horizon Shipbuilding in 2018. (Photo: Metal Shark)

Metal Shark announced Monday its Bayou La Batre, Ala. shipyard has delivered its first newbuild, a 120’ x 35’ river towboat for Florida Marine Transporters, Inc. (FMT) of Mandeville, La.The four-decked, welded-steel, USCG Subchapter “M”-compliant towboat Stephanie Pasentine, which bears the distinction of being Louisiana-based Metal Shark’s first-ever steel newbuild and also its first inland towboat, was designed by John W. Gilbert Associates, Inc.The vessel’s twin Cat 3512C marine diesel engines deliver 2…

20 Apr 2020

MARAD Awards Nearly $20 Mln for Small Shipyards

(Photo: VT Halter Marine)

Two dozen small shipyards in the U.S. have received a combined $19.6 million through the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Maritime Administration (MARAD) Small Shipyard Grant Program to help fund upgrades and expansions that often lead to more competitive operations, quality ship construction and improved employee skill.“This $19.6 million federal government investment in the nation’s small shipyards will help maintain the U. S. shipyard infrastructure of our country,” said U.S. Secretary of Transportation Elaine L.

01 Apr 2020

US Shipyards Forge Ahead Through COVID-19

The 56-foot icebreaking tugboat being built by Blount Boats for N.Y. Power Authority (NYPA). (Photo: Blount Boats)

As the novel coronavirus and its impacts continue to spread across America, U.S. shipbuilders, by and large, continue to build. While most yards have been deemed essential to marine transportation and/or national security and have been able to maintain operations, the situation at and around every shipyard is different, and there are several builders across the country that have had to temporarily suspend activity. In either scenario, it’s far from business as usual for America’s…

18 Jun 2021

Staten Island Ferries: A "New York State of Mind"

The OLLIS Class: is a new class of vessels being built for Staten Island Ferries by Eastern Shipbuilding Group. Photos: Staten Island Ferries/ESG

It takes a thick skin to live in New York City, let alone to run its Staten Island Ferry service. James C. DeSimone, Deputy Commissioner, Ferry Division, New York City Department of Transportation, has been charged with running the ferry service for the last 16 years. We met with him for his insights on the challenges of keeping the iconic ferry running safely and efficiently.Jim DeSimone has led a maritime life, with his time equally split between the private and public sectors. His maritime affiliation is literally in his blood, as his father Guy J.

16 Mar 2020

Winter Work on the Great Lakes

(Photo: Fincantieri Bay Shipbuilding)

Along the 1,600-mile, ice gray arch of the St Lawrence Seaway, the 2020 Great Lakes commercial shipping season will lurch back to life on March 25 when the Soo Locks at Sault Ste. Marie, Mich. reopen.The ceremonial opening signals a passage with passable ice and the 114th Great Lakes season for its fleet of 45 venerable lakers. Most of these huge self-loading freight haulers are at least 50 years old, rust free, and fit; American steel sailing on a freshwater sea.To handle Great Lakes cargo…

03 Mar 2020

Sub M Progress – an Update

Credit: Paul C. Lamarre III

Subchapter M, the United States regulatory code dealing with towing vessels and requirements for towing vessel safety, has officially been in place since July 20, 2016, when the U.S. Coast Guard finalized Sub M rulemaking.Since the rules were finalized there have been a couple of important hammer dates. In spring and summer 2018 the first certificates of inspection (COI) were issued. COIs are central within the Sub M program. A vessel needs a COI to legally operate. (All vessels were required to comply with Sub M by July 20, 2018.

24 Jul 2019

Great Lakes Towing Christens Tug Michigan

Great Lakes Towing Company (GLT),  the largest U.S.-flag tugboat company engaged in towing on the Great Lakes, has celebrated its 120th anniversary with the christening of their newest tugboat, the Tug Michigan.The Tug Michigan was christened by vessel sponsor, Carolyn Watkins, Chief, Office of Environmental Education and Administrator, Diesel Emission Reduction Programs for the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency.She was instrumental in helping the company secure funding assistance through the EPA’s Diesel Emissions Reduction Grant (DERG) program for the fleet’s new construction program.The newly constructed Tug Michigan is the third in a series of five, 64-foot Damen 1907 ICE design harbor tugs that Great Lakes Shipyard is building for The Great Lakes Towing Company’s operation.

24 Jun 2019

Museum Adds Tug OHIO to Exhibit

Great Lakes Towing Company (GLT), the largest U.S.-flag tugboat company engaged in towing on the Great Lakes,  christened the new Tug OHIO into service and dedicated the historic Tug OHIO as a part of  the National Museum of the Great Lakes.A press release from GLT said that the newly constructed Tug OHIO is the second Damen Stan Tug 1907 ICE design that Great Lakes Shipyard has delivered to The Great Lakes Towing Company. The tug is 64’x24’x11’, powered by two 1,000-hp MTU 8V4000 Tier III diesel engines, and generates over 30-tons of bollard pull. Its compact size and high maneuverability make it ideal for the narrow waterways and low bridges that characterize harbor towing on the Great Lakes…

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