Bay-Houston Towing Co. to Build Third Z-Tech Harbor Tug

On April 16, 2007, Mark Kuebler, President of Bay-Houston Towing Co., signed a contract with Orange Shipbuilding for a Z-Tech harbor tug. This marks the second Z-Tech 6300 hp harbor tug to be built at Orange Shipbuilding for Bay-Houston and the third Z-Tech to enter Bay-Houston’s fleet. Orange Shipbuilding is located in Orange, TX. Delivery is scheduled for early February 2009. The Z-Tech design by Robert Allan has proven successful throughout the world. Bay-Houston Towing Co. is one of only two companies currently building them in the United States.

The vessel will be Orange Shipbuilding Hull H-394. The tug will be 98.5 feet long, with a beam of 39.3 feet, and a hull depth of 16.4 feet. As with the first two Z-Techs Bay-Houston has ordered, the tug will be powered by two of Caterpillar's innovative new 3516C high power engines, delivering 3150 horsepower each. The vessel is designed to produce in excess of 75 metric tonnes of bollard pull. The Caterpillar engines will be mated to Schottel drives, the Model SRP-1520 driving 106 inch (2,700 mm) stainless steel propellers. These drives are rated at a combined 6300 horsepower. Markey Machinery Company Inc. will provide the bow winch, a Model #DYSF – 52 Escort Line Winch. The winch has an automatic render/recover mode and will be equipped with an application specific Markey tension meter. The winch will have a brake capacity of 500,000 pounds. Electrical power will be provided by two John Deere gensets, each rated at 125 kw.

The tug will be built to FiFi1 standard, and will be equipped with two Caterpillar C18 engines powering twin fire pumps each rated at 5300 gallons per minute, with water mist capability built in. All engines on the vessel, including main propulsion, fire pumps, and generators are EPA Tier II compliant.