Haig-Brown, Alan
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Efficient New Dinner Cruiser
Wise visitors to Bangkok will be sure to take a Chao Phraya river cruise past the spectacular Temple of the Dawn, Wat Arun, and the glories of the golden spired Grand Palace. The ultimate way to do this is on a dinner cruise with a buffet of the celebrated Thai food.This has become such a popular experience that the river at night becomes a spectacular parade of beautifully lit low-slung river cruise ships gliding under bridges and moving sedately amidst that city’s lights and sights.
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Chao Phraya: A Floating Food World
For many years, the Supatra River House on the Chao Phrya River, has been a favorite with Thai and foreign dinners. Situated on the Thonburi side of the river, the most favored approach to the restaurant is by boat. To that end, the owner, Khun Supapan maintains a fleet of beautifully restored Chao Phraya River water taxis. These can pickup dinners from their riverside hotels or any one of the Express Boat docks, including Tha Maharaj pier on the Bangkok side across from the Supatra River House.
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New ATB Builds for Island Tug & Barge
Over the years Vancouver, BC based Island Tug and Barge (ITB) has refurbished and repowered older vessels and completed new vessels. The company is currently working on its most ambitious and innovative project to date. In its Annacis Island Shipyard, located undercover in a pair of huge leased warehouses on the Fraser River, ITB is building two tugs that will be paired with two of its existing barges. The two boats are built with pins for use in an articulated tug and barge application.
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A Traditional Ship with a Contemporary Heart
Old photos show mid-nineteenth century sailing ships abandoned in the San Francisco Bay area by crews who caught gold fever. Some of these abandoned hulls lie under the modern day city of San Francisco. Over in Sausalito, just to the north of the famous Golden Gate Bridge, what may well be the spirit of one of those buried vessels has taken shape under the direction of Captain Alan Olson, who has several decades of experience building and restoring and sailing classic wooden ships.
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TUMSAT: More than a Rowing School
Philippine-born Ananya Surangpimol won a prestigious scholarship to Japan in 1971 and, after a year of intensive Japanese, entered Tokyo University of Fisheries, one of the first Asian women to do so in a former all-male imperial university. There she completed a master’s degree in food science but one of her favorite memories of her attendance at this former naval academy was being required to swim a kilometer in the open sea and row a big 12-oar cutter in her freshman year.
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A Versatile Harbor Tug
The azimuthing stern drive (ASD) format has become the norm for a great many tugs working in vessel assist around the world’s ports. They now far outnumber the full tractor tugs with the azimuthing drives set forward under the house as do they the cycloidal drive tugs. Often, the ASD tugs are dedicated ship-handling units with a single hawser winch forward. However, a lot of owners, looking to maintain diversity of applications and markets are adding a towing winch aft as well.
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Bangkok’s Chao Phraya Tourist Boat
Many visitors to Bangkok will experience a ride on the Chao Phraya Express boats. These long, sleek, wooden, commuter boats, with their dramatically raked bows, are a staple of the river’s traffic. They can also be very crowded and, with many stops, a bit of a challenge to the tourist. A popular alternative is the tourist boats. These vessels have a more limited route and series of stops, all of which are near important tourist destinations such as the Grand Palace and Wat Arun…
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Workboat Spotlight: Russian Tugs from Pella Shipyard
Russia’s Pella Shipyard advertises a range of five ASD tugs. Their model 90600 has proven popular with customers returning for sister ships. Currently the yards has one of these handy-sized 25.4 by 8.8-meter tugs under construction for the ship and submarine builder JSC Admiralteiskie Verfi. With a long list of design features, including fi-fi capabilities, centralized controls in the wheelhouse and operational reliability in severe ice conditions.
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Yacht Class Working Boats
Croatian tourism has grown by leaps and bounds in recent years. The great bulk of this is along the Adriatic coast where, as it has for centuries, life revolves around the sea. Tourists rent sail boats, take coastal cruises or travel to the many island that sit in the crystal Adriatic waters along the length of Croatia. A popular way of experiencing the coast and its islands, is to hire a speed boat and have a knowledgeable local skipper take you out for a day trip.
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Interferry: Diverse Operations Common Successes
In October the world’s ferry operators gathered in Split Croatia for the Forty Second Annual Interferry Conference. The 470 or so delegates represented 210 operators and support companies from 27 countries. A trade show included firms from around the world including shipbuilders, naval architects, equipment suppliers, training and others of the diverse group that make up the ferry industry. In a panel on Mediterranean Ferries…
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Strategic Marine: Innovative Quality
As ferry operators search for efficiency to reduce pollutants and operating costs, the importance of design, quality construction, and efficient propulsion become ever more important. Such is clearly the case with the Netherlands-based ferry operator Rederij Doeksen, whose two BMT Nigel Gee designed ferries are currently under construction at Strategic Marine’s Vietnam yard for operations between Harlingen on the mainland and the islands of Terschelling and Vlieland.
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Lady Loren: Big Hours, Little Wear
Russell Plaisance, president of Louisiana Carriers, built the pusher-tug Lady Loren at Dickie Adam’s Lockport Fabrication in 2008. At the launch, he explained that the boat was the result of five years of planning and a lifetime of experience in the maritime world of the Gulf of Mexico. The 82- by 29-foot Lady Loren was the seventh boat in the LA Carriers’ fleet. “ I keep my business diversified, ” Plaisance explained at the time.
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Powerful New ATBs for Vane Bunkering
The bold blue “V” logo emblazoned on the green-banded white stack continues to proliferate on American waterways. Vane Brothers Company has been expanding its fleet with new construction. Recently the marine transportation company announced a contract for three ATB tugs to be built at the Conrad Orange Shipyard in Orange, Texas. Designed by Greg Castleman of Castleman Maritime LLC, based in Clear Lake Shores…
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Inside Modutech Marine’s Work Boat Medium
The U.S. Navy has some spectacular vessels, from submarines to high speed RIBs. They also have dedicated ports and support facilities worldwide. A practical reality of all of this is that the Navy requires efficient and handy boats to support the warhorses. To meet this requirement John Myers of the naval architect firm Hockema & Whalen and Associates have developed a 30 by 15-foot tug with a 5.5-foot draft.
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Refurbished Tug James T Ready for Work
This winter will see the tug James T (ex PT Thompson) back at work after a major refurbishment. The James T, named for the founder of Campbell Towing, James T. Campbell, was built in 1982. The 85.4 by 32.3-foot tug had been powered by a pair of 1,000 HP Cat 3512 engines; these were replaced by a pair of bright red EPA Tier III-compliant 1,000 HP Cummins QSK38 mains. Both the old and the new engine sets turned into Twin Disc MG540 gears with 6.18:1 rations.
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New Tractor Tug for Jones Marine Group
Steady, smooth, powerful, highly maneuverable: these were comments from mariners on board for sea trials of Jones Marine Group’s new tractor tug, David J. The new workboat was put through its paces in fine form. The boat is an A.G. McIlwain-designed 53 by 26.5-foot handy-sized tractor tug with a hefty14-foot molded depth. The beam offers remarkable stability, while the length allows the tug to work in tight spaces.
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Triple-screw Tug for the Hudson
“The Daisy Mae is the closest you can get to Z-drive maneuverability, without the cost of Z-drive,” maintains her builder Joseph Rodriguez of Rodriguez Ship Building Inc. in Bayou LaBatre, Ala. Rodriguez has designed and built a lot of tugs over the years and doesn’t make this claim lightly. Further more he backs it up with his description of the beamy 82 by 32-foot tug that his yard delivered to Coeymans Marine Towing.
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Krilo Jesenice: Village of the Cruisers
Driving south on the coastal highway from the ancient city of Split in Croatia in late October, one is amazed to come on a forest of masts. These are not your usual sailboat masts lined in orderly rows in a marina, they are masts of all shapes and they are supported by a range of what at first appear to be spectacularly well maintained mega-yachts. A few are classic, bright finished wood but bold, white, steel-hulled ships with cruise ship style raked bows predominate.
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Fishing Vessel Repowered after Big Hours
After 60,000 hours of service, crab fisherman Robert Ross decided that his 19-liter Cummins 1150M had earned a rest. The 500 HP engine had been a perfect match for his 72- by 26-foot aluminum boat so he ordered up a new Cummins KTA19-M3 at 500 HP, continuous duty, from his local supplier Cummins Sales and Service in Fredericton, New Brunswick, in eastern Canada. Ross had his well-maintained 39-year-old boat, the Kara-Matt, hauled out at a shipyard and Dugas Equipment Ltd.
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Oceanjet: Building to a Proven Design
With more than 2,000 inhabited islands among a total of 7,000, the Philippines are a natural location for a ferry business. Until the 1990s, the Oceanjet’s parent company was in the business of barging heavy cargos between islands, but an opportunity to purchase a fast ferry started them on another path.With the purchase of Ocean Jet 1, their first ferry, the company began the steady process of growth for their ferry operation from their base in Cebu.
