New hybrid Foss tug may offer lessons for fishing fleet

摘要

A new hybrid tugboat may offer some lessons in fuel efficiency to the North Pacific fishing fleet. The operative word is "may." A day's work for a ship-handling tug is vastly different than for a North Pacific trawler. However, vessels from either pursuit share some basic traits: Hull, propulsion, steering — and, most importantly, owners who want to cut costs at the fuel dock. Even Foss Maritime Co., the company that built and will run the boat in Southern California, recognizes that the Carolyn Dorothy is a demonstration project. It probably wouldn't have been built based on the usual economics of the tug trade.