Gulf Island Fabrication Inc.'s shipyard division, Gulf Island Shipyards, has delivered the 98'6"x42'8"x16'5" Ted C. Litton, a Z-Tech 30-80-class terminal/escort tug to Suderman & Young Towing Co., Houston.
The tug was designed by Robert Allan Ltd., Vancouver, British Colombia, and built at Gulf Island’s Jennings, La., facilities. Main propulsion comes from two Caterpillar 3516E, C rating, Tier 4 diesel engines, each producing 3,386 hp at 1,800 rpm. The Cats are connected to Schottel SRP 510 FP Z-drives, giving the new tug a bollard pull of 80 tonnes and a minimum speed of 13 knots.
The Ted. C. Litton is ABS classed Maltese Cross A1, AMS, Towing Vessel, Escort, Fire Fighting Vessel Class 1. The tug will be operated by G&H Towing, Galveston, Texas. Gulf Island is currently building eight sister tugs that are at various stages of construction.
In May 2017, Houston Texas based Bay-Houston Towing Co. and Suderman & Young awarded construction contracts to Gulf Island for four Z-Tech 30-80 tugs for each company.
The Z-Tech 30-80 class introduces characteristics from the high-performance RAL-designed RAstar series, expanding the operational duties from its established role as primarily a port/terminal shiphandling design to include escort duties. With sponsons designed to suit the Z-Tech hull form, CFD simulations demonstrated escort capability of the Z-Tech 30-80 will increase by 15% comparison to the original Z-Tech design, RAL said.
