4 new tugboats coming to Erie Canal
Photo courtesy of Canal Corp: This tugboat is named for Harriet Tubman and joined the Erie Canal fleet last October. The tugboat is shown in Rochester, near Tubman’s home and final resting place in Auburn.
Press Release, New York Power Authority and NYS Canal Corp.
The New York Power Authority and New York State Canal Corporation have announced a strategic investment in the future of the New York State Canal system through the procurement of four new maintenance marine vessels.
The new tugboats will be operated by Canal Corporation personnel and positioned along the 524-mile Canal system to support the continued operation and maintenance of the statewide navigable waterway.
The first two tugboats are scheduled to be delivered in 2025, the bicentennial year of the Erie Canal, with two additional tugs planned for delivery in 2027.
“With more than 200 communities along its banks, an investment in New York State’s Canal system is an investment in the upstate economy,” said New York Power Authority and Canal Corporation Trustee and Syracuse Area Canal Recreationist Bea Gonzalez. “The Canal Corporation’s workforce that maintains this historic and vital water transportation route and recreational asset will leverage these new tugboats to ensure our children and grandchildren can enjoy all of the benefits the Canal system offers for many decades to come.”
New York Power Authority President and CEO Justin E. Driscoll said, “Once placed into service, these new maintenance vessels will give our dedicated personnel the opportunity to complete their tasks safely while operating aboard modern tugboats equipped with the latest marine technology. As stewards of the Canal system, we know how important the iconic waterway is to so many communities. These new work boats will help ensure the canals continue to support economic development, community building, and expanded recreational uses across our great state for years to come.”
Staffed by Canal Corporation tugboat captains and floating plant personnel, the new steel inland tugs, each 64.5-feet long, will support operations required to maintain navigation along the Canal system. Some of this work includes buoy placement and retrieval, movement of spoils in hopper scows, transporting of dredge pipe, and mobilizing hydraulic and mechanical dredge units. In addition, the new tugs will have ice breaking capabilities built into them such as thicker steel and tighter spaced framing in the bow.
New York State Canal Corporation Director Brian U. Stratton said, “These four new tugboats are a significant investment into the Canal Corporation’s maintenance fleet that routinely ply the waters of upstate New York. For nearly two centuries the Erie, Champlain, Oswego, and Cayuga-Seneca Canals have been economic engines – supporting livelihoods and commerce while spurring the growth of villages, towns, and cities – and this investment ensures our workforce can efficiently maintain the canal’s navigable waters for the next generation of users.”
In 2017, the Canal Corporation contracted with AENY, located in Northport, NY to perform a vessel assessment of its floating equipment. Based on the assessment, a long-term plan was developed to replace the aging fleet. The construction of the four new vessels will be in accordance with U.S. Coast Guard Sub-Chapter M regulations and a U.S. Coast Guard Certificate of Inspection will be obtained.
When delivered, the new tugs will be placed into service alongside the Tug Syracuse, a 1934 tugboat built by the State of New York that has been the workhorse of the maintenance fleet since its launch. The new tugboats also will join the Canal Corporation’s Harriet Tubman, one of 10 smaller push tugboats that have been added to the fleet over the past five years.
The Board of Trustees for the New York Power Authority, which owns and operates the New York State Canal Corporation as a subsidiary, awarded the contract to Blount Builders Inc. of Warren, Rhode Island at its July 27 meeting.
In 2020, Blount Builders Inc. successfully delivered the Breaker II, a tugboat owned and operated by the New York Power Authority that supports its generation of electricity and champions ice breaking activity in the winter months along the Niagara River in Western New York.
