Horizon Delivers 120' Retractable Towboat to Florida Marine Transporters

In June 2016 Horizon Shipbuilding, Inc. of Bayou La Batre Alabama delivered the M/V Marty Cullinan, a 120’ towboat with a retractable pilot house, to its home port of New Orleans, LA.  This is the latest delivery of many to Florida Marine Transporters by Horizon and one of the first vessels to fully incorporate Horizon’s GORDHEAD management software.

Jeff Brumfield, Sr. Manager of Boat Construction and Engineering for FMT commented, “We are thoroughly pleased with the boat, and when I talk to the Marty Cullinan crew they are quick to note that she is smooth and very quiet. The sound dampening package has exceeded our expectations.” Travis Short, President of Horizon Shipbuilding had this to say, “We have worked hard to build one of the best boats on the river and we consider ourselves fortunate to have teamed with FMT and John J. Gilbert to do this.  Horizon has been building FMT boats for almost a decade and in that time we have been able to assemble a team of master craftsmen that produce a superior product.  All the praise goes to those men and women in the yard, taking care to do the job right the first time while working safe, working hard and working together,” remarked Short.

The M/V Marty Cullinan has an ABS Load Line Certificate to operate in the waters between Chicago to Burns Harbor for fair weather voyages. It is 120’-0” LOA x 35’0” x 11’-6” and weighs in at 387 gross tons. The vessel is of all steel construction and powered by two CAT 3512 engines rated at 2011 HP, each at 1600 RPM with Twin Disc gears. With the house fully retracted, the max air draft is 17’-8”. The boat is outfitted with two 175kw Tier 3 John Deer 6090 Gen sets 460v. It is also outfitted for service in certain areas restricted to overhead clearances and draft limitation. Sleeping accommodations and facilities are provided for eight (8) persons and sound dampening systems have been implemented throughout the main deck house.

The Project Manager for the build of the M/V Marty Cullinan, Mr. Terry Freeman, managed the construction of the vessel. He and his team completed the build on schedule for Horizon’s longtime customer, Florida Marine Transporters. Mr. Freeman had this to say about the building of the M/V Marty Cullinan, “Our team exceeded all expectations with regard to the timely production and quality work on this build especially given the new design, ABS requirements and technical expertise required for the retractable pilot house.” Construction began in April 2015 and was completed and delivered on June 2016.

One reason the Horizon team is able to operate at such a high level is its GORDHEAD management software. This software has reduced production man-hours and shortened delivery schedules, enabling Horizon to become more competitive, a competitiveness that has resulted in an increasing backlog during a very challenging shipbuilding market. Both of its new customers, McAllister Towing and Transportation Company, Inc. and Hornblower New York Ferry Fleet, LLC, mentioned GORDHEAD as a contributing factor in their selection process.

Two more 120’ FMT towboats, one standard and the other with a retractable pilothouse, are in production at the company’s Bayou La Batre, Alabama shipyard, with deliveries scheduled for fall 2016 and spring 2017, respectively.  The deliveries of these vessels will bring the total number of FMT deliveries by Horizon to twenty.