Bay-Houston Towing Accepts New Tugboat

Bay-Houston Towing Co. announced it has taken delivery of the first Z Tech 2400 tugboat, the Chloe K, designed by Robert Allan Ltd. of Vancouver, and built by Leevac Shipyards LLC of Jennings, La.

The Z Tech 2400 tugs are a smaller version of the Z Tech 7500 tugs that are already in Bay-Houston Towing Co.’s fleet.  While they are smaller, they have enormous power for their size.  Like their larger cousins, the new design offers all the advantages of the Z Tech design:

•The forward deck (over the skeg) has a low, flat sheer, creating a spacious, relatively flat and safe working deck, without any obstructive anchor chains, etc.
•For "sea-going" operations, the Z-Tech tug works astern in tractor mode, so the shape of this part of the hull is more rounded in plan than would typically be seen in an ASD design. There is no appreciable loss of speed in this direction of operation. The increased flare and freeboard at the "aft" end is simply to ensure a drier operation when towing in this direction.
•Only one winch is required for both harbor and coastal towing operations. When towing long distances, the Z-Tech will simply tow in tractor mode going "astern".
•The low sheer forward, coupled with the aft bias of the deckhouse and wheelhouse enable the Z-Tech design to work under large overhanging ship flares.

While the 7500 series Z Techs, are primarily used at LNG terminals, with large tankers, and with post-Panamax container ships, the 2400 series will be capable of operating in the waters of all of the ports we service, including the confined quarters of the Houston Ship Channel.  Bay-Houston Towing Co. provides tug service in Houston, Galveston, Texas City, Freeport, and Corpus Christi, Texas.

The Chloe K is 80 feet long, with a 38 foot beam, and a working draft of 16 feet.  She is powered by two of Caterpillar's 3516C HD high power engines, delivering 2575 horsepower each.  At 5150 hp, the tugs will be capable of docking even the largest vessels calling on the Texas coast.  The vessel is designed to produce a minimum of 60 metric tons of bollard pull. 

The Caterpillar engines are mated to Model SRP-1215 Schottel drives, driving 94 inch (2,400 mm) stainless steel propellers. 

Markey Machinery Company Inc. provided the bow winch, a Model #DEPCF-48S Escort Line Winch.  The winch has an automatic render/recover mode and is equipped with an application specific Markey tension meter.  The winch has a brake capacity of 330,000 pounds.

Electrical power is provided by two John Deere 6068TFM76-ABS-T2 gensets, each rated at 99 kw.

bayhouston.com