Calusa Coast

 The United States flag tug Calusa Coast arrived today, October 15, from Boston and tied up at Pier 25. It arrived light tug.

Built in 1978 by Bollinger Machine Shop in Lockport LA, it carried the name Marc G until 1992 then became Katrina G. Dann Marine Towing Co of Chesapeake City, Maryland added the tug to their fleet and renamed it Calusa Coast in 2003. It has two GM-EMD 12-645-E2 main engines of 3400 bhp total driving two screws. The upper wheelhouse gives a 48 foot height of eye versus the 21 foot height of eye for the lower wheelhouse. It also carries a towing winch with 2,000 feet of 2 inch wire.

The tug shifted from dry cargo barge towing on the eastern seaboard to working on the Great Lakes from 2016 to 2020 with the barge Delaware delivering asphalt from Marathon, Detroit to sundry Lakes ports such as Cleveland and Buffalo. It left the Lakes in November 2020 and since then it has been reported in New York with barges carrying bulk sugar, but has likely been doing other work as well.

I am alwauys impressed by how well maintained these older US tugs appear. This one looks frech "from the showroom".

The tug is wearing its "lock ladders" - very long ladders on each side, standing upward, and which can be angled outward to allow agile crew members to land at the lock wall to assist passage if needed. They can also be used to access the deck of a light barge when the tugs goes "in the notch" for pushing.

 No destination has been given yet.

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