Eastern Shipbuilding Group, Panama City, Fla., delivered the 96'x34'x14'9" twin Z-drive reverse tractor tug Jeffrey McAllister to New York-based McAllister Towing and Transportation Co., Inc. on Jan. 13, 2017. The tug will be christened on Feb 11 and serve the port of Charleston (S.C.).
Main propulsion for the new tug comes from two EMD 8-710G7C Tier 3 diesel engines, producing 2,500 hp at 900 rpm each. The mains connect to Schottel SRP-1215FP Z-drives that include shafting, bearings and props.
On deck are two JonRie Intertech hydraulic towing winches — a Series 250 hawser winch and a Series 230 towing winch. The Series 250 escort winch was designed to handle in the recover mode the full bollard pull of the vessel. The winch is capable of 180,000 lbs. (90 ton) line pull. The addition of the Jeffrey McAllister makes McAllister one of the largest fleets on the East Coast with high horsepower tugs and high-powered winches. New features on the winch are its stainless-steel brake drums and 24 volt back up abort system to insure extra safety if power is lost to the tug. The winch also features active heave compensation (full render/ full recover) that will allow the tug to free wheel away for its tow and heave in at any speed.
The Series 250 also includes standard foot control to allow for hands free operation of the winch press down to payout and heal back to haul in and JonRie’s tension readout system with side lights and dimming for night use. The winch drum has the capacity to spool 500' of 8" hawser, brake capacity of 600,000 lbs. (300 tons) and a line speed of 100 fpm.
Ship’s service power is the responsibility of two John Deere 4045AFM85 Tier 3 diesel engine powered gensets, sparking 99 kW of electrical power each. For firefighting purposes, the Jeffrey McAllister is fitted with a Fire Fighting Systems InMar SFP 150x200, 3,000 gpm pump and two FFS InMar 300LBM 1,500 gpm monitors powered by a John Deere 6135AFM85, Tier 3 diesel engine.
The new tug is ABS classed Maltese Cross A1 Towing Vessel, Loadline and Escort Service.
The boat is named in honor of Capt. Jeffrey McAllister, a member of the fifth generation working at McAllister Towing. He began his McAllister career in 1973 at the age of 18 when he worked as a deckhand on the fleet’s offshore crewboats. His rise at the company was attained the old-fashioned way — by working his way up the hawse pipe. He worked on numerous McAllister tugs stationed everywhere from Aruba, Bonaire and eventually landing in the Port of New York. In 1977 he became a tug captain and in 1986 became a docking pilot. Today, Capt. Jeff McAllister is the senior docking pilot for McAllister in New York.
