Great Lakes Ship­yard con­tin­ues to work on the first of two (2) new tug­boats for New York Pow­er Author­i­ty (NYPA) Nia­gara Pow­er Plant’s win­ter oper­a­tions in Buf­fa­lo, NY. The new tugs will aug­ment and replace aging ves­sels that are used for the instal­la­tion, removal, and main­te­nance of the Lake Erie-Nia­gara Riv­er Ice Boom and var­i­ous asso­ci­at­ed marine con­struc­tion projects.

The new tugs will be spe­cial­ly rein­forced with heavy stems and shell rein­force­ment for oper­a­tions in sea­son­al ice. The design of the con­ven­tion­al dri­ve tugs includes ele­vat­ed pilot­hous­es for improved vis­i­bil­i­ty when maneu­ver­ing, as well as a spa­cious work deck aft to facil­i­tate ice boom con­nec­tions. The tugs are designed to com­ply with pro­posed Sub­chap­ter M of Title 46 of the Code of Fed­er­al Reg­u­la­tions for inspect­ed tow­ing vessels.

Deliv­ery of the first tug is sched­uled for Sep­tem­ber 2015.