Eastern Shipbuilding adds three more

Suderman & Young Z-drive tug

OCTOBER 23, 2014 — Eastern Shipbuilding Group, Inc., Panama City, FL, has added three more vessels to its orderbook. In August, Suderman & Young Towing Company and Bay Houston Towing Company each exercised an option for an additional Z-drive tug while last month Florida Marine Transporters, Inc., Mandeville, LA, added another Canal Class inland towboat to the six it currently has under contract with the shipbuilder.

The 80 ft x 38 ft 3in x 15 ft 9 in Z-drive tugs are Robert Allan Ltd. design Z-Tech 2400 class terminal and escort tugs, bringing the total number of these tugs under contract at Eastern to six. G & H Towing Company will provide the onsite representation for both owners as the owners’ agent during the engineering, construction and delivery phases of the contracts and will operate each vessel at delivery.

Total horsepower for each tug will be 5,150 HP @ 1,600 RPM, with twin Caterpillar 3516C (B rating) Tier 3 marine propulsion diesel engines powering twin Schottel Model SRP 1215FP Z-drives. Each tug will have a Markey Machinery Fairleader 50 HP electric
hawser winch, Model DEPCF-48S, with a 36″ wide drum and mid-drum brake holding capacity of 300,000 lb.

The 90 ft x 32 ft x 10 ft inland towboat for Florida Marine Transporters, Inc. will be constructed to a design furnished by Gilbert Associates, Inc. of Boston, MA, and will join a series of towboats that originally began with a twenty-five vessel contract with on-time deliveries starting in 2006. It has expanded to become the largest single builder single Owner new construction program with the same class towboat design in United States history, with 62 vessels now contracted.

The vessel will be powered by two Caterpillar 3512C Tier 3 diesel engines, rated at 1,500 HP at 1,600 RPM and provided by Louisiana Power Systems.

Canal Class towboat