Christian Townsend News

Hines Furlong Line currently has a trio of identical 6,000-horsepower towboats on order at C&C Marine and Repair in Belle Chasse, La.The timing is right to order the high-power newbuilds, said Kent Furlong, president and founder of Hines Furlong Line (HFL), citing the long-term implications of Subchapter M and the industry’s aging higher horsepower line haul fleet as key drivers behind the decision. “Many of the high-horsepower vessels in the HFL fleet are among the oldest,” he said.

Over that past 15 to 20 years there has been a revolution in U.S. ship docking tugs. Larger container ships and tankers made obsolete the conventional single and twin propeller tugs that could serve either line haul or ship docking functions. Pilots and insurers wanted modern technology that, more often than not, meant stern mounted azimuthing Z-drives. This revolution eventually includes ship docking on the Mississippi around the Port of New Orleans. But mixed in with the ship moorings and piers…