Calvin Klotz News

On the Mississippi and throughout the U.S. inland waterways, pushboats of about 70 feet and with around 2000 hp are ubiquitous. They can be seen in barge fleeting operations along the riverbanks for pushing one or two 30,000-barrel oil barges. In recent years, the standard power package has been a pair of Cummins’ popular KV38-M engines. These V-12-clylinder 2300-cubic-inch displacement engines have evolved over the years to take advantage of new technologies and, more recently, to meet new environmental standards. Gary Eymard has been around the inland towboat world for some time also.

Most Americans will recall an iconic automobile engine from their youth. It might be an early 1950s Ford V-8 flat head or a 1970s Dodge 426 Hemi. Over the decades other engines have been added to the list. In a similar fashion mariners have identified classic marine diesels. One such is the Cummins 38-liter 2300-cu. inch engine known over the years as the KTA38. Canadian fisherman John Lenic has been running one in his 1978-built steel purse seiner Ocean Marauder. Still running on the original engine he swears by it.

It's 8:30 a.m. as the Big Cat Express saddles up to the dock at the Port of Morgan City, La. It is Sea Trial day for the big quad engine catamaran ferry. No question she is waterjet powered as the tops of the blue "buckets" of the four Hamilton Jet 651's break the surface of the water at the stern. Just above the buckets are the exhausts, large four stainless steel pipes that curve downward toward the water. About 25 pickup trucks and my Ford Taurus wait the arrival of the 150-ft. by 34-ft. vessel. Painted gleaming white, the three-deck vessel looks like it was built for speed. Today we will find out just how fast it can travel. Emerging from the vehicles were several executives from Gulf Craft, Inc.

"The resurgence in the push boat new-builds for the petro-chemical market has been a pleasant surprise for Cummins Mid-South," says Calvin Klotz Vice-President for Marine Sales. Mid-South currently has engines for a half dozen or more Cummins-powered push-boats on order. Three of these boats are building at Kody Marine for Higman Marine Services' associated firm Maryland Marine Inc. The first vessel, to be named Skipjack, was delivered at the end of May. Construction on the two sister-ships is to start by July 1. Each of these three boats will be powered by a pair of Cummins KTA38 M1 main engines rated for 1,000 hp each at 1,800 rpm. The engines turn into Twin Disc MG540 gears with 6.18:1 ratios. The 78 x 53-in. propellers are mounted on 16-ft. by 8-in. cold rolled shafts.