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32MNSeptember 2011Beyond having the right tools to work on the drives, Western Towboat?s engineering personnel have received training under the drive manufacturers and learned through experience in the shop. Obviously, Western Towboat is sat- isfied with its decision to go withtractor tugs for ocean towing, despite the learning curve. The sixth tug in the Titan class is currently under con- struction and scheduled to launch in late October. It?s expected to be work- ing by the end of the upcoming holi- day season.NEWAPPLICATIONS : WESTERNLEADINGTHE WAYShrewsbury said although using tractor tugs for ocean towing was unusual back when his companybegan building them, the use of Z-Drives in towing applications has slowly begun to catch on. Lickey pointed out that Azimuth drives are finding their way into more applica- tions and being used in DPS vessels in the Gulf of Mexico and even cruise ships, making harbor assists less nec-essary for simple dockings. ?I think more towing companies down the road will start using these drives,? Lickey said, ?but Western Towboat is definitely out in front on this.? Shrewsbury and his brother both drive tugs and before they began building the Western Titan they could see the potential the drives had for all kinds of work. Western Towboat?s first tractor tug was the 72- ft Westrac, built in 1988. ?We didn?t see why we couldn?t do it in a larger vessel,? Shrewsbury said. Another rea- son the company turned to tractortugs was the potential for re-sale. ?We were spending a lot of money to build the Western Titan and we thought if we had a large Z-Drive tug we could sell it anywhere else in the country or even other parts of the world.? Shrewsbury added, ?There?s not a lot of people jumping up and down for used conventional tugs these days, and there?s not a huge difference in price between building a Z-Drive over a conventional tug.? Z-DRIVES: PROVINGTHEIRMETTLE ANDUTILITY My trip on the Western Titan stretched four and a half days, from Seattle to Juneau. At my final stop on Western Titan?s route, the captain was presented with a perfect, if unsolicit- ed, opportunity to demonstrate the benefits of Z-Drives in potentially dangerous situations. The Titan, tied to the side of her barge, began enter-ing the Port of Juneau when a cruise ship pulled anchor and started leaving its dock. The cruise ship then request- ed a port to port, but, in Captain Lickey?s judgment; there was not enough room to pass safely. Lickey bailed out, reversing the tug?s drives, stopping the massive barge it was tethered to and backed out of the port until the traffic had passed. ?That would not have been possible in a conventional tug,? Lickey said. If the use of Z-drive tugs in open water and/or long distance towing sit- uations is not yet prevalent, it is not because the revolutionary tractor ves- sels haven?t shown their value. The leadership of Western Towing, cou- pled with the experience of their sea-soned captains, has put to rest any doubts in that regard. As Z-drive tugs continue prove their mettle in any number of roles, what better place to demonstrate those capabilities than inthe icy and sometimes bumpy watersof the inside and outside passages toAlaska?Raina O Clark is a journalist and com- munications consultant for the mar-itime industry. Contact Raina at [email protected]. The latest Titan class tug under construction at Western Towboat is scheduled to launchin late October. The bilge keels visible toward the front of the hull help offset the?rolly? effect of the hull shape necessitated by the Z-Drives.MN#9 (32-49):MN 2011 Layouts 9/6/2011 12:16 PM Page 32