The Vane Brothers Company, Baltimore, took delivery in late April of the 100’x34’x15’ Hudson, the second in a new series of 4,200-hp tugboats, along with the 55,000-barrel barge, Double Skin 601.
Vane Brothers has ordered a total of eight Elizabeth Anne-class towing vessels through St. Johns Ship Building in Palatka, Fla. The lead vessel in the series, Elizabeth Anne, was delivered in January. The third tug in the series, the Baltimore, is scheduled for completion this summer.
The Hudson. Vane Brothers photo.DS-601 is the first in a series of two double-skin, 55,000-barrel barges ordered from Conrad Deepwater South Shipyard, Amelia, La. DS-602 is due later this year.
“Our ongoing Fleet Construction Program ensures that we have state-of-the-art equipment available to service all of our customers’ needs with the utmost safety and efficiency,” said Vane Brothers president C. Duff Hughes. “We are thrilled with the quality of tugboats coming out of St. Johns Ship Building and the barges being built by Conrad.”
Designed by Frank Basile, P.E. of Entech Designs LLC, the Elizabeth Anne-class tugboat is a close cousin to Vane’s Basile-designed Patapsco-class tugboats, 15 of which were produced between 2004 and 2009.
The model-bow Hudson has two Caterpillar 3516 Tier 3 engines, each generating 2,100 hp at 1,600 rpm. A pair of John Deere PowerTech 4045, 99 kW generators deliver service power to the boat, while a third John Deere 4045 teamed with an Allison transmission powers the chain-driven Intercon DD200 towing winch.
The Hudson features the latest in solid-state Simrad electronics, mahogany upper and lower pilothouses, and accommodations for up to seven crewmembers.
DS-601 is configured and outfitted almost identically to four 55,000-barrel Vane Brothers barges built by Indiana-based Jeffboat Shipyard and delivered in 2015. Like the barges in that series, DS-601 is equipped with the same 8.6MM-Btu thermal fluid heating system, vapor control system and cargo tanks coated with International Interline 994 epoxy novolac. Differentiating DS-601 is a raised forecastle bow design, which provides additional reserve buoyancy.
Primarily tasked with towing petroleum barges engaged in the North Atlantic coastwise trade, the Hudson has joined the Elizabeth Anne among more than 20 vessels that are part of Vane’s Delta Fleet, based in Philadelphia. DS-601 was also assigned to the Delta Fleet.
