Oil Patch Bits: Crowley christens new ocean class tugboat in Houston

Crowley Maritime Corp. recently christened the third of four tugboats in the ocean class series, Ocean Sky, in Houston. The ceremony served to formally welcome the third dynamic positioning tugboat to the company’s expanded ocean towing fleet, which has been involved in most of the major offshore oil production installations in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico over the past 16 months.

Todd Busch, senior vice president and general manager of Crowley’s solutions group, opened the ceremony to approximately 140 guests. He was followed by a series of speakers including Joe Huley, vice president, NC Power Systems, and Bruce Greshman, vice president, Heerema Marine Contractors, a Crowley customer who spoke about the 20-year relationship the two companies have enjoyed - a relationship, he remarked, based on “mutual trust, cooperation and responsibility to achieve the same goals.”

Following an introduction of the tug’s crew members and a blessing of the vessel by Father Sinclair Oubre, Jennifer Legg, Crowley’s assistant treasurer and vessel sponsor, broke the ceremonial bottle of champagne across the hull of the boat.

The Ocean Sky, which features DP2 technology, is part of a feature-rich, four-vessel family of tugs ideally suited to work with Crowley’s new 455 series high-deck strength barges, which measure 400 feet long by 105 feet wide. Crowley’s ocean class tugs are outfitted for long-range, high-capacity ocean towing; rig moves; platform and floating production; storage and offloading unit tows; emergency response and firefighting.