Seafarers-contracted Crescent Towing earlier this year added a twin-screw harbor tug to the segment of its fleet that is based in Mobile, Ala. The Noon Wednesday features a modern design and state-of-the-art equipment, noted SIU Mobile Port Agent Ed Kelly, who attended the tug’s christening May 17.
“It’s an outright addition to the fleet, and it might be the widest tug I’ve ever been on,” said Kelly.
The Noon Wednesday is 75 feet long and 40 feet wide. It was delivered in May and quickly demonstrated its capabilities. According to news reports, a barge sank in Mobile’s ship channel during Memorial Day weekend. The day after the holiday, with the channel reopened, the new tug helped move a dozen vessels, according to an article in Workboat magazine.
“She’s got a squatty body,” Crescent Vice President Prentiss (Tadd) Willcutt told the publication. “We have such tight turns here in Mobile, and we have to put them in those finger piers. It’s not like the mile-wide Mississippi River.”
The new boat’s features include a pilothouse with 360-degree visibility and twin EMD 16-645 diesels producing a combined 4,500 hp at 900 rpm. The tug’s running speed is 12.5 knots; it can hold 30,000 gallons of fuel.
“It’s got everything you’d expect and hope for in a modern tugboat and it has been very well-received here in Mobile,” added Kelly, who also pointed out that the christening took place precisely at noon on a Wednesday.
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