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North American Passenger Vessel Report
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in the mud, and the crane came off its mount trying to wrest her loose. She might have to be dug out, but under today's laws that could require a permit.
And permitting is sometimes strict, in a sensitive age. "We're investing millions in things like bulkhead improvements," said
McAllister's Buckley McAllister, "mov- ing forward as our applications are approved. To meet the environmental cri- teria, we sometimes have to go back a second or third time."
Besides infrastructure improvements and newbuilds, there are acquisitions and upgrades in a security-minded era. "We've installed, or are about to install, fire sup- pression systems on all our boats, in a pro- gram that's been underway for years" said
Chris Roehrig of Roehrig Maritime, "we've got two more to go at about $30,000 a copy. Our AIS systems have gone in at about $10,000 apiece."
Capt. Roehrig reports that the company has acquired a tug a year for the past five years, the Heidi Roehrig arriving a few months ago for a little over two million.
While the exact capital improvements of some New York businesses are easy to compute, they're more subject to interpre- tation with the residents of Tugboat Alley.
If tugs acquired by McAllister since 2003 — like the Michaela or the Kaleen or the
Bridget — spent a few months in town, then got reassigned to McAllister opera- tions in Charleston or Baltimore or Hamp- ton Roads, what does this say about ton- nage or horsepower or capital investments on the North Shore? Up? Down?
Housing developments, bodegas, and pharmacies are easy to count as they sit in place over the years. But the purpose of boats is to come and go, which makes their measure a moving target.
But even without hard figures, one senses growth amid "the wreckage of the heyday of the port." K-Sea, for example, near the head of Tugboat Alley at How- land Hook, acquired seven tugs at the beginning of 2005, and ten barges, and a new business in Norfolk and, along with their still-ongoing newbuild program, expected to have a carrying capacity of 2.7-million barrels by the time the record was published. The Norfolk acquisition alone was placed at $21-million. So does the Alley survive, or thrive?
Since the new vessels would be divided between the Port of New York and others, it's again hard to pinpoint whether K-Sea's growth permanently increases the popula- tion of Tugboat Alley. But that's how it is in the transportation business. Vessels move around, sometimes on regular routes. K-Sea's ranges from the Gulf of
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Miller was closing on the Susan in August, and how she's the one model-bow tug on the East Shore -- making the record technically correct about tugs living east of the Kill Van Kull. (Photo: Don Sutherland)
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