Cargo Business Techwire

Friday, June 20, 2014

Foss Maritime building three Arctic tugs

Foss Maritime is building a fleet of three Arctic-class tugboats at its Rainier shipyard to serve the oil and gas mining sectors in Alaska.

The tugs, which cost $10 million a piece, will tow building modules from Korea to ocean oil fields in the Arctic.

The first tug, the Michele Marie, should be completed by spring, the company said. When finished, the tug will be able to pull 120 tons through Alaska's icy waters and will be capable of travelling 30 days without refueling, which is a necessity in remote oil fields, according to Gary Faber, senior vice president at Foss. The hull is extra stout to withstand rough seas and ice.

"It's the biggest and most complex one we've built here," shipyard director Don Nugent said of the tug.

For more of the TDN story: tdn.com