McAllister Tugging has taken delivery of the Mary McAllister, an 84-metric-ton bollard pull tractor tug powered by CAT Tier IV engines rated at 6,770 horsepower — the sixth hull in a seven-tug series the New York harbor operator is commissioning to serve progressively larger vessels calling US East Coast ports.

Washburn & Doughty Associates of East Boothbay, Maine built the tug, continuing a construction program of American Bureau of Shipping-classed tractor tugs that pairs high bollard pull with low-emission certification. The Mary carries ABS endorsements for +A-1 Towing, +AMS, Fire Fighting (FiFi 1), Escort, and Low Emissions Vessel — a class package aimed at harbor work, escort duties and emergency response for tankers and boxships that keep growing in beam and draft.

Her firefighting fit is substantial for a harbor tug: pumps and monitors can throw 12,000 gallons of water and foam per minute, giving port authorities and terminal operators a first-response capability at the berth. The Tier IV propulsion addresses emissions rules tightening across US ports, where harbor craft face growing scrutiny under state-level and federal air quality regimes.

Delivery run and first assignment

The Mary left the Maine yard ahead of an approaching nor'easter and will ride out her first North Atlantic storm in Portland, Maine before turning south. She then joins sister tug Isabel in Baltimore, where she will take her first work order within the McAllister fleet. After that Baltimore hitch, she proceeds to her permanent homeport at Port Everglades, Florida — the gateway for container and energy traffic serving South Florida and the Caribbean.

At Port Everglades she becomes a fixed asset in the harbor towage lineup serving carriers calling the port, which has been investing in berth and channel upgrades to accommodate larger vessels. For shippers and carriers routing cargo through South Florida, additional modern escort and firefighting capacity reduces operational risk on increasingly constrained berthing windows.

For McAllister, the delivery keeps the fleet investment cycle on pace. The company, family-owned for five generations since 1864, confirmed another newbuilding follows in 2027, the seventh in the series. That sustained orderbook at a single US yard signals confidence in demand for high-specification, American-built harbor tugs at a time when Jones Act construction costs push operators toward longer asset lives and phased fleet renewal.

The commercial logic is straightforward: as liner networks deploy bigger tonnage on East Coast trades, harbor towage requirements climb in bollard pull, escort capability and emissions compliance. Operators that cannot match those specs risk losing ship assist contracts at major gateways. McAllister's seven-tug program positions it to keep those mandates as vessel dimensions — and the premiums for escort-grade tugs — continue to rise.

With the Mary in the water and one more hull due in 2027, McAllister's renewal program points toward continued concentration of high-specification harbor towage capacity at the East Coast and Florida ports handling the largest share of US container volume growth.