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Western Towboat News

24 Mar 2022

Grounded Tug Spills Diesel in Alaska

Western Mariner, an 83-foot inspected tug, ran aground in Neva Strait March, 21, 2022, while towing Chichagof Provider, a 286-foot containerized barge. (Photo: Brian Wereda / U.S. Coast Guard)

A unified command consisting of the U.S. Coast Guard, Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation, and Western Towboat, continues to lead the response efforts for the grounded tug in the Neva Strait, which initially occurred Monday morning.The tug owner, Western Towboat, contracted Hanson Maritime, SEAPRO, and Global Diving & Salvage who are currently on-scene and continuing pollution recovery efforts and salvage planning.A total of 3,000 gallons of diesel has been pumped from a ruptured tank aboard the tug…

17 Aug 2020

North Arm Transport: Innovation in Towing

The hefty bow, characteristic of a McIlwain design

Founded in 1958 as an extension of the Stradiotti family businesses, North Arm Transportation has grown to be a significant fuel company on the BC coast. Over the years, the company fleet has expanded and evolved. With tugs in a range of size and power, as well as cargo and fuel barges, the company services the coast out of its headquarters in Vancouver on the North Arm of the Fraser River. They also have facilities on Mitchell Island in the Fraser and at Masset on Haida Gwaii.

21 Aug 2018

Western Towboat Founder Passes Away

(Photo courtesy of Western Towboat)

Robert “Bob” Shrewsbury, founder of Seattle-based tug and barge services provider Western Towboat, has passed away at the age of 94.Shrewsbury started Western Towboat along Ballard’s waterfront in 1948, operating with just one small tug the, ND Tobey, and working in the early days as business agent, captain and engineer.Today, the family owned company is run by Shrewsbury’s son, Bob Jr., with grandchildren Russell, Ross and Kristin, and has grown its fleet to 22 tugs and seven barges.

17 Apr 2017

Western Towboat Signs with MobileOps

Image: MobileOps Inc.

MobileOps, Inc., a Redmond, Washington software comapny that specializes in the design and development of maritime software applications (dispatch, safety, compliance, vessel maintenance, timecards, analytics) announced that it has signed a contract with Western Towboat Company of Seattle. Western Towboat will use MobileOps Platform across its fleet and within several shoreside departments. MobileOps Platform's offline-capable application, Voyager, will be used on tugs transiting the ocean out of cellular range. www.mobileops.co

16 Dec 2014

Focus: Heavy Duty Lifting

Launched in 2012, the Rolls-Royce dual draglink crane has already been delivered to Farstad Shipping’s vessel Far Solitaire, one PSV under construction at Keppel Singmarine Brazil SA, as well as to four PSVs still under construction at Detroit Brasil shipyard, in Itajaì. Image: Rolls-Royce

Safely, efficiently lifting and handling increasingly heavy loads takes a hefty dose of the latest heavy lift products and systems. Rolls-Royce is a ubiquitous and growing force in all matters maritime, inching toward the one-stop-shop premise. It is particularly well known in the deck machinery sector, and it recently signed a deal with Detroit Chile SA to supply offshore cranes to nine PSVs under construction at Detroit Brasil Ltda. shipyard, in Itajaì, Brazil. The order includes nine ship sets of the dual draglink crane, making 18 cranes in total.

04 Jul 2013

Jensen-Designed Tugboat Delivered to Hyack Maritime

Tugboat Hawaii: Photo credit Jensen Maritime

Seattle-based naval architecture and marine engineering firm, Jensen Maritime, announce delivery of the 'Hawaii', the first of two 120’ x 35’ x 19’ Jensen-designed ABS machinery class ocean-going tugboats, to Hyak Maritime, a marine equipment and vessel owner based in Dover, Delaware. The Hawaii was built by JT Marine of Vancouver, Wash. Hyak’s second tug, the Washington, is scheduled to be delivered by the end of 2013. The Hawaii and Washington are based on the successful Titan-class tugboats, which Jensen developed alongside Western Towboat, a Seattle-based tug and barge company.

03 Oct 2011

Ocean Towing with Z-Drives

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.

08 Apr 2011

Training on Z-Drives with Jeff Slesinger

Captain Jeff Slesinger, trainer and author. Photo courtesy Jeff Slesinger

I asked a friend at Seattle’s Pacific Maritime Institute (PMI) if she thought someone like me could successfully complete just one maneuvering task in their tug simulator after a couple hours of training. Ten years ago I’d run a cutter aground in San Francisco Bay when my Officer Candidate class was let loose in the Coast Guard Academy’s simulator, but that was the extent of my shiphandling experience, real or virtual. As a testament to her optimism, my friend scheduled me in PMI’s Z-drive tug simulator last January under the instruction of Captain Jeff Slesinger…

02 Oct 2001

Western Moves Ahead with High Tech Power

On June 15, Western launched its largest piece of high-performance machinery to date: the 120-ft. (36.6 m) Gulf Titan which is 12 ft. longer than Western's two previous builds, the Western Titan and Pacific Titan. As with those two vessels, Western built the new Gulf Titan with design assistance from Jensen Maritime, Seattle. The added length will improve sea-keeping characteristics and increase fuel capacity by 40,000 gallons, says Bob Shrewsbury, Jr., president of Western Towboat Co., Inc. And a new five-blade propeller design with added pitch is expected to coax an extra 2,000 lbs. of bollard pull from the twin Z-drive propulsion system with high-performance nozzles.

18 Dec 2003

Product: Deck Machinery & Cargo Handling Equipment

Techcrane Global Corporation is a Covington, La.-based marine crane manufacturer/distributor who recently installed Techcrane Model F250-100 onboard Torch Offshore L.L.C.'s Midnight Wrangler. This was a crane custom-designed for Torch with a maximum capacity of 125 tons at 30-ft. reach. Time lapse between design conceptions to fabrication in Covington, La., was less than six months. The bid was awarded to Techcrane in December of 2002 for delivery in mid 2003 and is a part of the project to convert the Midnight Wrangler into a deepwater pipelaying vessel. In order to accommodate these deepwater arenas, a winch was specially designed by Lantec on behalf of Techcrane for the F250 to handle 8,000 ft. of two-in. wire rope.

18 Oct 2007

House Hearing on Mariner Education, Work Force

The Subcommittee on Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure conducted an oversight hearing on Mariner Education and Work Force. As explained in the Summary of Subject Matter, the focus of the hearing was growing shortage of mariners and the challenges facing the maritime work force. Subcommittee Chair Elijah Cummings (D-MD) expressed concern that the maritime industry is no longer attractive for new entrants. Committee Chair James Oberstar (D-MN) discussed the importance of timely and relevant training. Rear Admiral Joel Whitehead, USCG, explained the role of the International Convention on Standards of Training…

05 May 2000

Vessel Deliveries

California Fish & Game recently took delivery of P/V Thresher, a 54 ft. all-aluminum catamaran, designed by Teknicraft of Aukland, New Zealand, and built by Kvichak Marine, of Seattle, Wash. The partially foil-supported catamaran will be stationed in Dana Point as a Fish and Game Marine Enforcement patrol vessel for Southern California. The cat's beam is 20.2 ft., and weighs nearly 28 tons fully loaded. Powered by twin Caterpillar 3196 DITA diesel engines, driving 30 in. stainless steel propellers through Twin Disc MG 5114A gears, Thresher cruises at 26 knots with a top speed of 30 knots. Deck equipment includes an aft deck A-frame to deploy and retrieve a customer-supplied Hurricane inflatable.

08 Nov 2002

Hydralift Skeg Use Gaining Speed

A device that increases the efficiency of barges is gaining in popularity on the West Coast, especially for Seattle to Alaska and Southeast Alaska runs. Many people report that Hydralift skegs substantially increase the efficiency of towed barges. This results in either increased towing speed or reduced fuel consumption because the horsepower required to tow at the same speed decreases. The Lynden Companies, Alaska Railbelt Marine (ARM) and Alaska Marine Lines (AML), have several barges with Hydralift skegs and another currently under construction. They are using the barges on Seattle to Alaska runs and runs within Southeast Alaska. Western Towboat Company, Inc., which does all the towing for ARM and AML, has two gravel barges with Hydralift skegs themselves.