Bob Shrewsbury News

Robert “Bob” Shrewsbury, founder of Seattle-based tug and barge services provider Western Towboat, has passed away at the age of 94.Shrewsbury started Western Towboat along Ballard’s waterfront in 1948, operating with just one small tug the, ND Tobey, and working in the early days as business agent, captain and engineer.Today, the family owned company is run by Shrewsbury’s son, Bob Jr., with grandchildren Russell, Ross and Kristin, and has grown its fleet to 22 tugs and seven barges.

Western Towboat leads the way with tractor tugs. For a first-hand look at how tractor tugs are used for ocean towing on the West Coast, I took a ride on the first Titan class vessel built by Western Towboat out of Seattle, Wash. The 108-ft Western Titan was built in 1997 with stern Azimuth drives. She pulls a container barge the size of a football field on a tow line from Seattle to Skagway, Alaska, making several port calls along the way and traveling through both the inside passage and waters more open to the Pacific Ocean.

Caterpillar Marine Power Systems is pleased to announce starting in January 2012, the legendary Cat 3500C marine engines will enter full production meeting United States EPA Tier 3 regulations. Cat 3500C Tier 3 compliant offerings will include propulsion, auxiliary and diesel electric propulsion (DEP) engines. All Cat 3500C offerings will not require after treatment modules to meet Tier 3 regulations as a result of incorporating innovative fuel and air system modifications into the design of the engines. “We’re pleased to offer our customers impacted by the United States EPA regulations a timely, comprehensive power solution that doesn’t require after treatment or sacrifice performance,” said Bob Hallengren, Caterpillar Marine Power Systems Product and Application Manager.

On June 15, Western launched its largest piece of high-performance machinery to date: the 120-ft. (36.6 m) Gulf Titan which is 12 ft. longer than Western's two previous builds, the Western Titan and Pacific Titan. As with those two vessels, Western built the new Gulf Titan with design assistance from Jensen Maritime, Seattle. The added length will improve sea-keeping characteristics and increase fuel capacity by 40,000 gallons, says Bob Shrewsbury, Jr., president of Western Towboat Co., Inc. And a new five-blade propeller design with added pitch is expected to coax an extra 2,000 lbs. of bollard pull from the twin Z-drive propulsion system with high-performance nozzles.

California Fish & Game recently took delivery of P/V Thresher, a 54 ft. all-aluminum catamaran, designed by Teknicraft of Aukland, New Zealand, and built by Kvichak Marine, of Seattle, Wash. The partially foil-supported catamaran will be stationed in Dana Point as a Fish and Game Marine Enforcement patrol vessel for Southern California. The cat's beam is 20.2 ft., and weighs nearly 28 tons fully loaded. Powered by twin Caterpillar 3196 DITA diesel engines, driving 30 in. stainless steel propellers through Twin Disc MG 5114A gears, Thresher cruises at 26 knots with a top speed of 30 knots. Deck equipment includes an aft deck A-frame to deploy and retrieve a customer-supplied Hurricane inflatable.

A device that increases the efficiency of barges is gaining in popularity on the West Coast, especially for Seattle to Alaska and Southeast Alaska runs. Many people report that Hydralift skegs substantially increase the efficiency of towed barges. This results in either increased towing speed or reduced fuel consumption because the horsepower required to tow at the same speed decreases. The Lynden Companies, Alaska Railbelt Marine (ARM) and Alaska Marine Lines (AML), have several barges with Hydralift skegs and another currently under construction. They are using the barges on Seattle to Alaska runs and runs within Southeast Alaska. Western Towboat Company, Inc., which does all the towing for ARM and AML, has two gravel barges with Hydralift skegs themselves.