Page 32: of Marine News Magazine (September 2017)

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INLAND PUSHBOATS

ESG Sees Green With its

Tier IV Thunderbolt Design

Eastern Shipbuilding’s forward-thinking inland towboat design now features CAT Tier 4 propulsion and af ertreatment.

By Joseph Keefe hen Eastern Shipbuilding Group (ESG) intro- vessel from side bank impacts when turning in rivers and duced its cutting edge 4,000 hp Thunderbolt canals and stern impact protection when backing down.

W inland towboat designed around twin azimuth- And, while those pods are an important part of the ves- ing AAA Propulsion electric V-Pod propulsion and diesel- sel’s design package, the new EPA Tier 4-compliant CAT electric technology back in 2015, the approach was col- engines now baked into the concept design make for an ir- laborative, with input from operators, naval architects resistible combination when it comes to operators looking (Gilbert Associates, Inc. (GAI)) and propulsion OEM’s. In for their next newbuild package. selecting the podded propulsion system for inclusion on

UTURISTIC ISION NCLUDES IER the design, Eastern met with two inland owner/operators F V I T 4 that had Z-Drive towboats, and others that didn’t. Starting ESG coined the Thunderbolt as a “vision of the future for as far back as 2013, listening to each and noting their con- the U.S. inland waterways.” Now, with CAT’s proprietary cerns, it was decided that the V-Pod was the best solution. Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR) aftertreatment solu-

Because the Thunderbolt will typically operate in shal- tion built into the design, few could argue that the power- low, sometimes turbid, debris