Making the Mark For Crescent Towing's Fleet

The first GE Diesel engine in Crescent Towing's fleet went into service in 1971 powering the retrofitted Port Hudson tug — a retired U.S. Navy tug. The Port Hudson is still operating today using a GE medium-speed diesel engine. "I've worked for Crescent Towing for 24 years, and the GE engines are the most dependable ones we have in our fleet of 24 tugs," said Larry Ohler, vice president, port engineer for Crescent Towing, New Orleans, La. "We operate all of our engines at full ahead, full stops, and full range of rpms. We have selected GE Diesels for our tugs because we've found that between overhauls, the GE engines require less maintenance. In addition, on average the GE Diesels will use 25 gallons per hour less fuel than other engines of the same horsepower," Ohler noted.

Today, Crescent Towing has 24 diesel engines powering its fleet, operating in Savannah, Ga., Mobile. Ala., and New Orleans. In Crescent Towing's 24-tug fleet, nine vessels are powered by 10 GE Diesel engines.

The most recent addition to Crescent Towing's fleet is Point Clear, which began operating in 1999 and was added to the fleet as part of Crescent's fiveyear upgrade program. Point Clear is the first Z-drive tractor tug in the Crescent Towing fleet, and it provides ship-assist work along a 250-mile stretch of the lower Mississippi River.

The 104-ft. long tug features two GE 7FDM 12-cylinder engines, providing 2,500 shaft horsepower (shp) each, and according to Ohler is the most powerful tug in New Orleans. The vessel has tankage for 85,000 gallons of diesel fuel, making it capable of prolonged towing assignments.

Crescent Towing typically performs maintenance on its engines every 30 days, including oil filter change, oil analysis, check valve clearances, pump timing, and fuel rack settings every six months, Ohler said.

The GE 7FDM engine models are available in 8, 12 and 16 cylinders, for power ranges from 1,600 shp/1,193 kW to 4,500 shp/3,355 kW. The high compression, Electronic Fuel Injected (EFI) engines recently received ABS certification.

These engines are fuel efficient, and offer high reliability and low emissions.

They are driven by GE's new Powerstar Controller.

GE Diesels meet current MARPOL and EPA Marine Tier 1 emissions requirements. These engines also will comply with EPA Marine Tier II regulations that go into effect in 2007 (see Table 1 below for engine specifications).

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Maritime Reporter Magazine, page 40, Nov 2004

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