Barging Ahead

 

[By Pat Zeitler]

Tugs and barges are the ox and cart of the maritime world. They have one purpose and that’s to move loads.

Throughout a bustling 2024, this basic concept was not lost on the U.S. mariner. While some tugs move ships, like the new electric harbor tug eWolf, others move heavy-lift barges like Donjon’s assets in response to the Francis Scott Bridge collapse in Baltimore. Still others work in tandem with  barges like Crowley’s ATBs (articulated tug barges).

While a global naval superpower, the U.S. is not exactly a commercial maritime superpower. It  has a surprisingly low number of flagged commercial deep-draft vessels. It does, however, possess a strong and robust tug-and-barge industry.

Like the ox and cart in days of old, U.S. tugs and barges are a key supply chain element that is often taken for granted. The good news is there’s a sense of innovation and accomplishment throughout industry. Companies like Carver Marine Towing are working to reduce the deficit of skilled maritime labor while Crowley and Suderman & Young are making concerted efforts to eliminate emissions by committing to electric power. 

We may look back at 2024 and recognize that this was a banner year for the U.S. tug-and-barge industry.

Special Operations: Carver and Donjon

In 2014, Carver Marine Towing was launched by purchasing a tug and barge with the original purpose of delivering raw product to their laydown yard at Coeymans Industrial Park south of Albany, New York on the Hudson River. The logistical void experienced by Carver Sand and Gravel was not an anomaly.  The void was real and endured by companies along the Northeast coast. 

Ten years later, Carver Marine Towing has grown to a fleet of 10 tugs and over 40 barges.

Carver’s diverse barge fleet includes small work floats, inland deck barges, hopper barges and even ABS-classed offshore deck barges. It’s worked on the Portal North Bridge project for AMTRAK, transported beer tanks via the Erie Canal to the Genesee Brewing Co., the oldest brewery in New York, and supported the turnkey operations that the Carver group of companies has become known for. 

Carver Marine Towing was busy in 2024 and seems set to remain that way for a while. It’s growing, but with a tempered and responsible rate of progression. It recognizes the labor crunch that exists in almost all maritime sectors and has decided to address it with an ambitious plan to train from within. In most instances, an inland mariner will begin as a deck hand or barge hand without any formal training or licensing. From there, new mariners acquire through on-the-job training the skills and maritime acumen they need to become Carver’s future towing masters, mates and deckeneers (able-bodied seamen who also work in the engine room).

Donjon Marine, headquartered in nearby New Jersey, is a tug-and-barge operator skilled in marine salvage operations, the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse being a case in point. 

“Due to the size and scope of the operation,” says President & CEO John Witte, “Donjon mobilized 95 percent of our substantial marine response fleet in response. In short, we had 10 tugs, 25 barges, three derrick barges and two dredges plus a crew of over 75 experienced and trained marine response specialists working for over three months on a 24/7 basis to open the access channel in Baltimore.”

Witte is also the current International Salvage Union President, reflecting the company’s – and his own – prominence in the industry.

Donjon’s self-defined specialty is “non-traditional towing,” and it has the human assets and capital resources to command the market in that category. With nearly sixty years of operating experience, the Donjon team is at home in close quarters, shallow water and situations of high current. When it comes to its core service, Donjon is a first call for marine casualties.

Already a leader in dredging and marine salvage, Donjon continues to explore opportunities to expand its role in the marine industry and beyond. With the creation of Donjon Shipbuilding & Repair, the latest addition to its family of services, Donjon controls the largest shipyard of its kind on the Great Lakes, utilizing years of experience and knowledge to meet the needs of an ever-growing industry to provide shipbuilding, drydocking, ship repair, barge construction, vessel conversion, repowering, maintenance, steel fabrication, steel assembly and other related services through the Great Lakes region and beyond.

Looking Forward: Crowley Maritime and Suderman & Young Towing

Crowley Maritime Corporation has come a long way from its inception. In 1892, Thomas Crowley utilized a row boat to shuttle light cargo and passengers to and from tall sailing ships anchored in San Francisco Bay. By the turn of the 20th century, Crowley had acquired motorized launch vessels as well as tugboats and barges. Crowley had a fleet and a growing business.

Over a century later and still family-owned, Crowley is an international logistics company with a business model heavily predicated on the services provided by its tugs and barges. 

They include the codependent maritime asset configuration known as ATBs. Shrewd cargo brokers will choose to charter an ATB when they require a cargo capacity comparable to that of a small tanker yet also need a vessel capable of advanced maneuverability. Crowley’s fleet includes eighteen ATBs with operational speeds of 12 knots and ranging in cargo capacity from 100,000 to 327,000 barrels.

Another key component of Crowley’s fleet is the ship-assist or harbor tug. Crowley’s fleet of harbor tugs operates throughout the West Coast from San Diego to Puget Sound. In early 2024, Crowley took delivery of the eWolf, an all-electric harbor tug, for operation in the port of San Diego. With 4,200 horsepower and 70 tons of bollard pull, the 82-foot eWolf packs more power to the punch than its diesel-powered predecessor.

The eWolf is powered from a shoreside microgrid that has been customized to power electric cranes as well and to provide shore power for conventional vessels. This zero emissions prototype may very well be the model of the future.

Houston-based Suderman & Young Towing provides ship-assist services throughout the Texas coastal ports. This past October, it issued a press release stating it had been selected as a sub-recipient of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean Ports Program to construct a zero-emission tug for use in the port of Corpus Christi – exciting news and a good sign that Suderman & Young as well as the port of Corpus Christi are leveraging new technology in a way that will ensure future sustainability and commercial efficiency.

Future Focus?

Who knows, maybe the future of the U.S. maritime industry is not in deep-draft commercial shipping but with the mariners working tugs and barges. 

The optimist will see that the future for U.S. mariners is one where they are working on electric tugs to build the U.S. waterways infrastructure, responding to first-call marine casualties and doing ship-assist work.

In short, 2024 might be the year that the U.S. created the blueprint for a zero emission tug industry centered around servicing deep-draft, foreign-flag petrochemical vessels.

Pat Zeitler works at The Ocean Corporation in Houston.