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.