The Great Lakes Tow­ing Com­pa­ny and The Nation­al Muse­um of the Great Lakes cel­e­brat­ed in a dual cer­e­mo­ny that chris­tened the new Tug OHIO into ser­vice and ded­i­cat­ed the his­toric Tug OHIO as a part of the museum.

The new­ly con­struct­ed Tug OHIO is the sec­ond Damen Stan Tug 1907 ICE design that Great Lakes Ship­yard has deliv­ered to The Great Lakes Tow­ing Com­pa­ny.  The tug is 64’x24’x11’, pow­ered by two 1,000-hp MTU 8V4000 Tier III diesel engines, and gen­er­ates over 30-tons of bol­lard pull.  Its com­pact size and high maneu­ver­abil­i­ty make it ide­al for the nar­row water­ways and low bridges that char­ac­ter­ize har­bor tow­ing on the Great Lakes.

“The new har­bor tug is apt­ly named OHIO:  She was built by skilled Ohio crafts­men in an Ohio ship­yard, for an Ohio-based com­pa­ny, will oper­ate on Ohio waters and serve Ohio ports.  In addi­tion, her con­struc­tion cost was sup­port­ed by the Ohio EPA.”

Joe Star­ck, Pres­i­dent, The Great Lakes Tow­ing Company

The Tug OHIO will be placed in ser­vice in the Port of Tole­do, OH.  In 2017, the Tug CLEVELAND was the first new tug built as part of the Company’s fleet renew­al pro­gram.  The third and fourth tugs, MICHIGAN and PENNSYLVANIA, will be com­plete in July and Octo­ber 2019, respec­tive­ly.  The fifth tug is not yet named but has a sched­uled com­ple­tion of Spring 2020.  Addi­tion­al fol­low-on tugs are avail­able for pur­chase by third par­ty buyers.

The Muse­um Tug OHIO, pre­vi­ous­ly named the LAURENCE C. TURNER served in the Tow­ing Com­pa­ny fleet for over 60 years.  The tug will now serve as a muse­um exhib­it after more than 115-years of ser­vice on the Great Lakes.

“This is a day to cel­e­brate the past, present, and future of Great Lakes com­mer­cial ship­ping.  We are proud to work with The Great Lakes Tow­ing Com­pa­ny on this unique dual chris­ten­ing cer­e­mo­ny.  The Muse­um Tug OHIO will share this his­to­ry for years to come.”

Chris Gill­crist, Direc­tor, The Nation­al Muse­um of the Great Lakes. 

The Great Lakes Tow­ing Com­pa­ny provides
com­mer­cial tug­boat ser­vices such as har­bor assist, car­go trans­porta­tion, and
ice break­ing in more than 35 U.S. ports across the Great Lakes.  Great Lakes Ship­yard is a full-service
ship­yard for new ves­sel con­struc­tion, cus­tom fab­ri­ca­tion, and vessel
main­te­nance and repair.  Learn more at www.thegreatlakesgroup.com.

The Nation­al Muse­um of the Great Lakes was found­ed in 1944 as the Great Lakes His­tor­i­cal Soci­ety.  The mis­sion of the orga­ni­za­tion is to pre­serve and make known the his­to­ry of the Great Lakes.  In 2014, the Soci­ety opened the Nation­al Muse­um of the Great Lakes on the banks of the Maumee Riv­er in Tole­do.  Learn more at www.nmgl.org.