Page 39: of Marine News Magazine (June 2006)

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June, 2006 • MarineNews 39 equipment all the same."

Painted white like the Tilly, with buff- colored trim, the four boats were unified into an unmistakable identity by the ban- ner below the wheelhouse windows.

There are lots of white boats in New York, and you sometimes have to squint to tell whose. Not the Roehrig boats. "My model, in a way, was the Turecamo fleet, unmistakable at a glance. And I wanted ours to look a little 'yachty.'"

The decorative touch was more than just flair, it implied a tradition, and an homage to a time when, among other things, most tugboaters came up the hawsepipe.

Size and Scope

They're good harbor tugs, the Vivian and her sisters, as years of continuous ser- vice have shown, and the Brandon's jour- neys coastwise prove them able offshore.

But like a lot of tugs with a southern her- itage, they're relatively flat. Going outside with harsh weather brewing? For that, the

Roehrig fleet could get something from the Emma. "She was a Mobil boat," says Capt.

Roehrig. "Where most of our acquisitions came-in about 85 per cent complete for our purposes, the Emma was turnkey. We bought it on a Wednesday, painted it, had it working Saturday. She hasn't stopped yet."

This is a boat to take offshore. This is a boat for the notch. That's what the water- borne supply line from New York to the rest of the seaboard is about. With the

Emma, the Roehrig fleet was ready to enter the high end of the game in New

York harbor.

More boats arrived, with specifics in mind. "We bought the Eileen in 2000 for a lot of work with Bouchard and Great

Lakes." She's been on almost continuous charter ever since, seldom seen in New

York.

A contract developed with Penn, and it called for a big boat. "We bought the

Anabelle in 2002," says Capt. Roehrig, "a good call. She makes some speed -- can keep up with the ATBs."

The Heidi joined the fleet last year, "another turnkey boat -- went to work the next day. She's small enough for working the harbor, but has what you need for a 60,000 to 70,000-BBL barge." She's been on charter to K-Sea.

As for the John H. Malik, the latest addition to the fleet, she's been spotted in the notch of Hornbeck barges since her arrival in town. "When we first got started, years before this office," said Capt. Roehrig, "my mother was the dispatcher. She answered the phones at 3 a.m. She loved it." It sounds like a homey beginning, almost picturesque, a storybook background for a tugboat company. But with a new boat on

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Roehrig Maritime's John H. Malik joined the Port of New York fleet at the beginning of this year, their second 6,000 hp tug configured for the oil trade. (Photo: Don Sutherland)

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