Cleve­land, OH — The Great Lakes Tow­ing Com­pa­ny (GLT) a leader in spe­cial­ized marine ser­vices, includ­ing har­bor tow­ing, ice break­ing, emer­gency response, ves­sel repair and con­struc­tion, and machine shop ser­vices, today announced the acqui­si­tion of the Fire­boat ANTHONY J. CELEBREZZE, for­mer­ly owned by the city of Cleve­land, OH.

The pur­chase is intend­ed to pro­vide GLT with a fire­fight­ing plat­form for response to a ship­board or shore­side fire, par­tic­u­lar­ly in those ports where a high vol­ume of win­ter ship repair work is per­formed.  The Com­pa­ny can also uti­lize the Fire­boat to respond to ship­board fires while a ves­sel is underway.

The 61-foot CELEBREEZE is a twin screw, 600 HP tug, equipped with two (2) fire pumps and five (5) mon­i­tors, pro­vid­ing a total of 6,000 gal­lons per minute of off-ship fire­fight­ing capac­i­ty. Great Lakes Ship­yard, a divi­sion of GLT, has pro­vid­ed dry­dock­ing, main­te­nance, and repair ser­vices to the ves­sel for decades, and is very famil­iar with its sys­tems and operation.

In ear­ly 2022, GLT signed an exclu­sive agree­ment with Resolve Marine to pro­vide OPA 90 Sal­vage and Marine Fire­fight­ing (SMFF) ser­vices in U.S. Coast Guard Dis­trict 9. The joint arrange­ment ensures con­ti­nu­ity of ser­vice for all Resolve Marine clients in Buf­fa­lo, Detroit, Lake Michi­gan, Sault Saint Marie, and Duluth COTPs. Ships with ves­sel response plans for the Great Lakes COTP zones, even if they are not Resolve Marine clients, can also be served under the agreement. 

As part of GLT’s agree­ment with Resolve Marine, the Com­pa­ny stores a 20-foot con­tain­er loaded with fire­fight­ing and dewa­ter­ing pump sys­tems at its Great Lakes Ship­yard facil­i­ties in Cleve­land.  The con­tain­er can be loaded aboard any tug to mobi­lize the equip­ment, which can then be put in ser­vice onsite to safe­ly and effi­cient­ly mit­i­gate dam­age from a fire or oth­er incidents.

GLT con­tin­ues to bol­ster its capa­bil­i­ties to help ensure the safe­ty and effi­cien­cy of marine oper­a­tions. The acqui­si­tion of the Fire­boat, cou­pled with the strate­gic part­ner­ship with Resolve Marine, demon­strates GLT’s com­mit­ment to pro­vide top-tier ser­vices in emer­gency response and marine fire­fight­ing. With this new addi­tion to their fleet, GLT is well-posi­tioned to fur­ther con­tribute to the safe­ty and secu­ri­ty of its cus­tomers in the Great Lakes mar­itime industry.

The CELEBREZZE was con­struct­ed in 1961 by Paach Marine in Erie, Penn­syl­va­nia and was named after Cleveland’s 49^th may­or.  The Fire­boat has been a valu­able resource for the Cleve­land Fire Depart­ment, serv­ing as a base for the dive team and facil­i­tat­ing fire­fight­ing oper­a­tions along the riv­er and on the Lake­front.  It has also played a vital role in sup­ply­ing water to com­pa­nies work­ing on the shoreline.