Page 28: of Marine News Magazine (April 2024)

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Feature

Shipbuilding

WindServe Marine you don’t have the sustained backlog.”

Previous editions of Marine News’ U.S. Shipbuilding re- port have noted the increasing concern about what ABS’s

Bleiberg (moderating the Marine Money panel) called “the big push for sustainable” shipping”, adding that: “What we see is a substantial increase in retro? ts and upgrades.”

New technologies can require new construction. Indeed, sustainability concerns are behind two innovative new- builds: eWolf, an all-electric tug delivered to Crowley from

Master Boat Builders (Coden, Ala.) in January 2024, and

Hydrogen One, a towboat to be powered by a hydrogen fuel cell, under construction at Intracoastal Iron Works in

Bourg, La. The vessel will join the ? eet of ? nancial own- er Maritime Partners, who have placed it on a long-term charter to a leading inland tug and barge operator.

The electric tug illustrates a different form of the com- plexities, with numerous external regulatory and ? nancial “stakeholders” surrounding such newbuilds, and going way beyond the technologies (using a energy storage sys- tem from Corvus Energy, feeding an electrical propulsion package from ABB, driving a pair of Rudder Propellers from Schottel). In a news release, Crowley notes that the new tug “represents a historic innovation through a col- laboration among Crowley, federal, state and local gov- ernment partners. Their mutual commitment to improve air quality through battery energy for the vessel and port technology, including a shoreside, microgrid charging and storage station at the Port of San Diego.”

The Maritime Partners tug (with its hydrogen fuel cell fed from a methanol reformer), architected by Elliott Bay

Design Group, and originally slated for a 2023 delivery, is now scheduled for 2024 delivery.

Master Boat Builders is also constructing more conven- tional vessels. In mid-2023, it announced an order for two 92-foot escort tugs, with design by Robert Allan, Ltd. to be built for Moran Towing, based in Connecticut. Though us- ing conventional fuel, the boats will feature Caterpillar 3516

EPA Tier 4 main engines. The yard is also building two small- er 86-foot tugs for Moran, also set to handle ship assist along the East Coast, ordered the previous year.

Senesco Marine is building a series of

McAllister Towing, based in downtown New York, took crew transfer vessels for sister company delivery, in late 2023, of sister vessels Jane McAllister and

WindServe Marine, including the

Grace McAllister, from the Washburn & Doughty ship-

WindServe Journey launched in 2023. yard, in Maine. The Z-drive tugs also seature Tier 4 main 28 | MN April 2024