Kaye E Moran News

We all appreciated Don Sutherland's celebration of the 150 years of Moran towing (Maritime Reporter & Engineering News, April 2010). It was an exciting collection of vignettes on the life of the company and of its founder, Michael Moran. There were many other aspects of that remarkable company and of its equally remarkable founder that might further inform, if not entertain, the readers of Maritime Reporter. Rarely has a Moran tug been lost, but during the 1890s one vessel was overcome by heavy weather conditions immediately outside of New York harbor.

Late last year, Washburn & Doughty Associates, Inc. of East Boothbay, Maine delivered Kaye E. Moran, a 92’ x 32’, 5100 HP Z Drive Firefighting Tug, to the Moran Towing Corporation of New Canaan, Connecticut. The vessel will be used to provide ship-assist services for LNG tankers at the recently reopened Dominion Cove Point LNG storage terminal south of Baltimore, Maryland, on the Chesapeake Bay. Kaye E. Moran is named in honor of Kaye Barker, the wife of Moran’s Vice Chairman, James R. Barker. Kaye E. Moran is classed ABS Maltese Cross A1, Maltese Cross AMS, Escort Vessel, Towing Vessel & Fire Fighting Class 1. The Kaye E. Moran is the…

Many workboats in the marine industry are called upon in supply or assist roles. The entire offshore vessel industry is based on a supply function to oil and gas drilling operations or the resupply of production platforms. The tugboat industry is most often characterized as small vessels assisting very large ships in docking, undocking and other harbor movements. The growth of these vessel companies and their operations depends on the economic vitality of the larger industry they serve. Right now the hottest new market being served by tugs is in the assistance of very large Liquid Natural Gas (LNG) tankers to dock and undock. As is the case in other marine support operations, the growth of tugs to assist LNG tankers depends on the basic health of LNG transport.