Panama Tugs 1

Recent tugboat building contracts at the Canal have gone to Chinese and Spanish shipyards.

What I did was look at all the (ACP or Panama Canal Authority) tugboat photos I took–and only those–and classify them by age and provenance.  The photos below were the US built tugs I saw, all three built before 2000.

Guia, below, is the oldest tug I saw.  She was built by Houma Fabricators in 1987.  Full specs are here, but she has 31 tons bollard pull, powered by 2 EMD 645-E6 for a rated 3000 hp and Voith-Schneider cyclical propulsion.

Unidad, from Houma Fabricators,  is a repeat of  Guia.  At least five others were built and are active.  The line in the photo is between the tanker and a mooring.

 

Cacique came from Halter-Moss Point, 1997 for the Panama Canal Commission.  Full specs are here.  She has a bollard pull of 32 tons from the same power plant as Guia.

All photos by Will Van Dorp.