East Coast ports are competing for the larger containerships now moving through the Panama Canal, and tugboat companies that work these harbors are bulking up to meet demand. Moran Towing’s 6,000-hp Clayton W. Moran, which arrived in the Port of Virginia in March, is the latest example.
Clayton is the 12th boat in a proven line of 93-by-38-by-15.5-foot z-drive tugboats designed and built by Washburn & Doughty of East Boothbay, Maine. The 13th boat and the first with Tier 4 Caterpillar engines is under construction now.
Like its predecessors, Clayton W. Moran features twin EMD 12-710 mains paired with Schottel 1515 FP z-drives turning 102-inch props in nozzles. All tugs are rated for at least 80 tons of bollard pull with an ABS escort certification. Ship service power comes from a pair of John Deere 99-kW gensets, while a Caterpillar C32 engine drives the FFS fire pump capable of 10,200 gallons per minute.
Moran Towing Corp., headquartered in New Canaan, Conn., operates tugs in 17 ports along the East Coast and Gulf of Mexico, and its 93-foot tugs are currently working in Miami, New York, Norfolk and Savannah, among others. Clayton adds another beefy workhorse to Moran’s 13-tug Norfolk operation, which already has two 6,000-hp siblings in Maxwell Paul Moran and Jack T. Moran. Moran’s New York operation has four of these escortrated tugs.
“The Clayton will complement our already expansive fleet in Norfolk and prepare us for handling larger deep-draft vessels,” Ron Droop, a Moran vice president, said recently.
The Port of Virginia was one of the first ports called by the 10,000TEU MOL Benefactor last year, and the vessel now makes regular stops there. Meanwhile, the port is expecting regular calls from the 13,000-TEU COSCO Development starting in May.
“The big ships are here,” Joe Harris, spokesman for The Port of Virginia, said.
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