towboat

The towboat Peter Fanchi down-bound on the Ohio river at Louisville, Kentucky

The towboat Angelina pushes a barge in New Orleans.

A towboat is a boat designed for pushing barges or car floats. Towboats are characterized by a square bow with steel knees for pushing and powerful engines. They are most often seen on inland waterways and western rivers where they can push more than 50 large barges lashed together into a tow of varying shapes and sizes. Towboats that travel long distances (linehaul) include living quarters for the crew. Outside of the USA towboats are usually referred to as "push boats" or "pushers".

Towboat size

Towboats range in size from 600 horsepower (447 kW) up to 10,500 horsepower (7,830 kW). Most towboats can vary in length from 35 to 200 feet (10.7 to 61.0 m), and vary in width from 21 to 56 feet (6.4 to 17.1 m) wide. Smaller boats are used in harbors, fleeting areas and around locks while larger boats operate in "line-haul" operations and inter-city routes. In the United States below St. Louis on the Lower Mississippi river, the river is open with no locks or impediments other than channel size and depth. So larger boats run this segment of the river with the maximum tow size of 42 barges southbound and 40+ northbound. A "box", so called due to the shape is 200 by 35 feet (61.0 m × 10.7 m), a "rake", so called due to the raked bow end, is 195 by 35 feet (59.4 m × 10.7 m). So 40 barges would be over 1,200 feet (366 m) long and occupy over 6 acres (2.4 ha) of area.

In the United States above St. Louis on the Upper Mississippi River and on other rivers such as the Illinois, Ohio, Arkansas, Tennessee and Cumberland, boats can handle only up to 15 barges due the size of lock chambers. These boats tend to be limited to 5,000 horsepower (3,728 kW).

Towboats in line-haul service operate 24/7 and have the latest in navigational equipment, such as color radar, GPS systems, electronic river charts, and specialized radio communications.

Boats that traverse the Intra-Coastal Waterway ((ICW)) are commonly referred to as ditch boats, and river boats are just that, river boats. ICW tows usually consist of 1 to 4 barges ranging in size, usually "strung out" end to end or "doubled up" side by side.

Towboat and mixed cargo barges on the Chang Jiang (Yangtze) river.

Towboats always push the fleet of barges, which are lashed together with steel cables usually 1 to 1.5 in (25.4 to 38.1 mm) in diameter. The term towboat arises from steamboat days, when steamboat fortunes began to decline and to survive steamboats began to "tow" wooden barges alongside to earn additional revenue. Eventually the railroad expansion following the American Civil War ended the steamboat era.

Not to be confused with the historic boat type with the same name, also called horse-drawn boat.

The Patricia Gail, now named the Robert D. Byrd after the captain that brought it out of the ship yard for the first time.

CONSOL Energy's R. Barry Palmer towboat on the Ohio River near Pittsburgh, PA.

The Donna York, pushing barges of coal up the Ohio River at Louisville, Kentucky

See also

• Riverboat
• Sampan
• The American Waterways Operators
• Tugboat

External links

• The American Waterways Operators
• Towboat Industry Job Page