Eastern Shipbuilding Group Inc., Panama City, Fla., launched the 100'x40'x16'4" escort/rescue Z-drive tug Capt. Jim McAllister for McAllister Towing on March 19. The tug is currently under construction at Eastern’s Allanton, Fla., facility and is scheduled for delivery later this year.

Main propulsion for the Capt. Jim McAllister will come from twin Caterpillar 3516E, Tier 4 diesel engines producing 3,386 hp at 1,800 rpm each. The Cats connect to Schottel SRP-4000 fixed pitch Z-drives in drop-in tubs.

Ship’s service power will come from three Cat C7.1 turbocharged gensets, sparking 118 kW of electrical power at 1,800 rpm each. Firefighting apparatus are powered by a Cat C 9.3 Tier 3 auxiliary diesel engine connected to a Fire Fighting Systems FSP 150x200 fire pump and an FFS 300M monitor, pushing 3,000 gpm.

On deck will be a Markey Machinery series DEPF-42-40 towing winch, stern mounted and a Markey DEPCF-52-75 hawser winch, bow mounted.

The new tug will be ABS Maltese Cross A1 Towing, Escort, Maltese Cross AMS, Ice Class “DO” (but without ABS notation), EPA Tier 3 and Tier 4.

The Capt. Jim McAllister (ESG Hull #223) is from the same 100' Z-drive tug design provided by Jensen Maritime Consultants, Seattle, as the previous three tugs. The Rosemary McAllister (ESG Hull #224) was delivered in June 2018 and in final outfitting is the Ava M. McAllister (ESG Hull #222), each constructed at the Allanton facility.

The Rosemary McAllister was honored as one of the Significant Boats of 2018 by WorkBoat magazine. The lead vessel of the four-vessel series is the Capt. Brian McAllister which was delivered in 2017 and built by Horizon Shipbuilding Inc.

 

Ken Hocke has been the senior editor of WorkBoat since 1999. He was the associate editor of WorkBoat from 1997 to 1999. Prior to that, he was the editor of the Daily Shipping Guide, a transportation daily in New Orleans. He has written for other publications including The Times-Picayune. He graduated from Louisiana State University with an arts and sciences degree, with a concentration in English, in 1978.