Eastern delivering new tug to Va.

Eastern Shipbuilding of Panama City, Fla., is delivering the Rosemary McAllister, a second in a series of four 100-foot tugboats to McAllister Towing and Transportation Co. in Norfolk, Va. The tug is underway and expected in Chesapeake Bay, Va., early next week, according to McAllister officials. Its sister ship, Capt. Brian T. McAllister, was built by Horizon Shipbuilding of Bayou La Batre, Ala., and figured in the company’s financial difficulty and bankruptcy filing in October 2017, weeks after the tug was delivered. The Rosemary and a third hull that had been started at Horizon were transferred to Eastern Shipbuilding, which has had a long relationship of building boats for McAllister. The next two tugs are expected for delivery in 2019. The tugs are the first Tier 4 powered towing vessels on the Atlantic coast; and designed to handle the new generation of neo-Panamax container ships now regularly calling at New York and Norfolk. (Source: Work Boat 06/01/18)