Page 26: of Marine News Magazine (November 2026)

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Boatbuilding 2026 Innovation

CMA CGM’s Electra

Partners was built at the company’s Coden shipyard. It Fire? ghting equipment includes pumps and monitors is the ? rst vessel in an eight-tug construction program. capable of delivering 12,000 gallons of water and foam per

Classi? ed as an A1 Escort Tug and Towing Vessel, it in- minute, giving the tug an emergency response capability corporates an automated machinery system, Underwater beyond its routine ship-assist duties.

Inspection in Lieu of Drydocking certi? cation and FFV1 Following delivery, Mary McAllister was scheduled to ? re? ghting capability. It also carries a Low Emissions Ves- join sister tug Isabel in Baltimore before proceeding to its sel designation. Those features support the tug’s intended permanent homeport at Port Everglades, Florida.

combination of harbor towing, escort and marine support On the Mississippi River, horsepower remains central assignments. Automated machinery monitoring assists to the economics of moving large barge tows. Marquette vessel operations, while the underwater inspection nota- Transportation Company’s M/V John Paul Eckstein illus- tion provides an alternative to conventional drydocking trates the scale of modern linehaul towboat construction.

for certain inspection requirements. Seven additional ves- Built by C&C Marine and Repair in Belle Chasse, Loui- sels in the program are scheduled to follow. siana, and designed by CT Marine, the steel-hulled vessel

Master Boat Builders also delivered Saturn to Suder- measures 189 feet long and 50 feet wide, with a molded man & Young Towing Company, the ? rst of four Rapport depth of 12 feet. Two Caterpillar diesel engines provide a 3000 escort tugs. At 98 feet long with a molded beam of combined 10,000 hp, driving 122-inch propellers.

43 feet, Saturn is considerably broader than many conven- Designed for sustained operations between St. Louis and tional harbor tugs of similar length. Its two main engines New Orleans, the towboat accommodates 12 people in 10 develop a combined 7,000 hp, providing more than 90 staterooms. The arrangement supports the extended crew metric tons of bollard pull and a maximum speed of ap- rotations associated with long-distance inland towing.

proximately 13 knots. Christened in New Orleans on January 10, 2026, the

The tug accommodates six crew members and carries vessel honors Marquette Executive Chairman John Paul 44,342 gallons of fuel oil. With gross tonnage below 300 Eckstein, who previously served as president and CEO

GRT, the vessel combines substantial towing power with for three decades.

the operational ? exibility required for port assignments The U.S. Navy’s next generation of towing and salvage and ship escort work. vessels is represented by the future USNS Solomon At-

Another high-powered harbor tug joined the McAllister kinson (T-ATS 12), christened at Austal USA’s Mobile,

Towing ? eet with the delivery of Mary McAllister from Alabama, shipyard.

Washburn & Doughty Associates in Maine. The second of three T-ATS vessels under construction

The vessel is the sixth in a seven-tug series of ABS- at Austal, Solomon Atkinson belongs to the Navajo class, classed tractor tugs designed for 84 metric tons of bollard which combines capabilities previously provided by the pull. Its Caterpillar Tier IV engines produce a combined Navy’s ? eet ocean tugs and rescue and salvage ships.

6,770 hp, while the vessel’s classi? cation includes towing, The ocean-going vessel is designed to tow Navy ships, automated machinery, escort, ? re? ghting and low-emis- conduct salvage and rescue operations, and support oil sions notations. spill response, humanitarian assistance and wide-area 26 | MN November 2026