U.S. container ship gets emergency tow

Mar 10, 2010 0 Comments by nathan

The state funded emergency response tug stationed in Neah Bay, WA received orders to assist the disabled U.S. container ship, Horizon Tacoma after the ship shut down their engines due to smoke coming from the engine’s turbocharger while transiting the Strait of Juan de Fuca.  The ship is operated by Horizon Lines.
Here is the story [...]

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Bligh Reef strikes again

Dec 24, 2009 0 Comments by nathan

Well, it appears old Bligh Reef isn’t quite finished snagging ships and ripping open their hull’s. This time it was the tug Pathfinder, operated by Crowley Maritime. A recent press release on the Crowley website highlites that the Pathfinder had operated for 32 years without a single environmental incident.
From the CG press release:
VALDEZ, [...]

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Featured Ship – Abeille Bourbon

Sep 26, 2009 0 Comments by nathan

I present to you, the salvage tug Abeille Bourbon, a French vessel operated by Bourbon Offshore and chartered by the French Navy for rescue and assistance operations. The vessel is based out of Brest, France and has been involved in several large marine salvage and rescue cases including the MSC Napoli, the Rokia Delmas . It is a sleek vessel, and one of several that the French government has strategically contracted and placed along the French coastline to assist large vessels in peril at a moments notice

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(AP) Tugboat pilot plan may have backfired

Jul 11, 2009 0 Comments

Came across this interesting article by the Associated Press concerning tug operator licensing.
Jul 8th, 2009 | NEW ORLEANS — A federal program to recruit more tugboat pilots may have backfired by allowing thousands of novice captains to take the helm and contributing to a 25 percent increase in the number of accidents on the nation’s [...]

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Disabled and drifting freighter survives hurricane Ike

Sep 13, 2008 0 Comments

Good News from the USCG concerning M/V Antalina. 

NEW ORLEANS – An adrift 584-foot bulk freighter, the Antalina, weathered the worst conditions of Hurricane Ike and is awaiting a tow back to port from an ocean-going motor tug.
The Coast Guard confirmed at approximately 8:00 p.m., Friday, Sept. 12, 2008, that the heaviest winds of Hurricane Ike had passed [...]

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