McDermott Building Two Bulkfleet Marine Tugs Custom-Made For Future

Two vessels now under construction for Bulkfleet Marine Corporation of Houston, Texas, at McDermott Shipyard-Morgan City (La.) Division are being custom-made for the future.

Designed to burn heavy fuel oil, a fuel expected to be abundant when other fuels are scarce, the two 140-foot oceangoing tugs are seen as a realistic and innovative technological adaptation to an energy-restricted future. Though similar craft have been built, these are the first such tugboats to be built in the United States.

"McDermott feels fortunate to be the first shipbuilder in the country to apply this technology to oceangoing tugs," said V.J.

LeBlanc, head of the McDermott Shipyard Group. "We're proud we will be building these vessels for Bulkfleet Marine Corporation's fleet." According to J. Barry Snyder, president of Bulkfleet Marine, the tugs have been dedicated for service in the Gulf of Mexico, the Caribbean and the Atlantic Ocean. They will be used with specially designed barges that will carry 203,000 barrels of bulk petroleum each.

The new tugs will each have 8,000 available horsepower, generated by twin 4,000-hp MaK engines that develop their rated power at a low 425 rpm. The vessels will be 140 feet long, have a 43-foot beam and a depth of 22 feet.

The McDermott shipyards at Morgan City and New Iberia, La., specialize in the con- struction of large tugs, supply vessels, fishing vessels, jackup and package rigs, dredges, oceanographic research and oceangoing work vessels. The yards also construct workover and drilling barges, derrick barges, pipelaying barges, crane barges and workboats.

Maritime Reporter Magazine, page 14, Jan 1980

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First published in 1881 Maritime Reporter is the world's largest audited circulation publication serving the global maritime industry.