GE & Partners Commission New Tugboat Fleet for Panama Canal

GE Marine, a unit of GE Transportation, and the Panama Canal Authority (ACP) announced the start of the commissioning of 13 tugboats for use in the Panama Canal. The 26-engine order represents the largest in the history of GE Marine.

The sale of the 12-cylinder V228 engines through GE's engine distributor Marinsa was finalized in October 2008. The vessels are being built by Cheoy Lee Shipyards of Hong Kong, the first of which arrived in Panama last week; all of the ships are scheduled to arrive by June 2012.

In October, ACP celebrated the transit of the one millionth vessel through the Canal since its inauguration in 1914, and the new tugboats will be used to continue to transport tankers and barges through the Canal safely and efficiently.

GE's V228 engines are high-compression, four-stroke, medium-speed, turbocharged, electronically fuel injected, class-approved engines designed and built for rigorous marine applications. With rugged construction and quality-assured parts, V228 engines are capable of operating cost-effectively for more than 20 years. The engines are being built in GE's world-class engine manufacturing facility in Grove City, Pa.