Page 143 - Peterson 85 Years and Going Strong

Tidewater’s Point Class tugs: Crown Point, Granite Point and Ryan Point
powered by twin Cat 3516C main engines and two Cat C7.1 generators,” says Carpenter. “And each is named after a prominent Pacific Northwest land- mark—the Crown Point, the Granite Point, and the Ryan Point.”
Peterson marine sales rep Marty Wiemann (1998–2017) worked closely with Tidewater to se- lect equipment models and ratings that would be both reliable and efficient. “The Point Class tugs were great projects for us,” says Carpenter, who worked with Wiemann until Wiemann left in 2017 to become Tidewater’s port engineer. “Tide- water operates dozens of Cat engines year-round which requires lots of overhauls and repowers from Peterson. It’s a mutually beneficial relationship.”
Diversified Marine Inc. (DMI) has been another important partner with Peterson over the past de- cade. The small shipyard is located on the Colum- bia River near the I-5 bridge in Portland. What it lacks in acreage, it makes up for with experience and efficiency. Since 1985, DMI has built a rep- utation as one of the premier tug builders on the West Coast. “Peterson has supplied over twenty
Cat 3500 marine propulsion engines to DMI since 2012, making them one of our most important marine customers,” says Carpenter. “They really helped put Peterson’s marine team on the map over the past ten years by trusting us to do the first Tier 4 engines in the world. And the first Cat Propul- sion tugs in the United States. DMI is continually trying new things and is definitely at the forefront of vessel design and equipment.”
Another key player is the Vigor shipyard, situat- ed on Swan Island in the heart of Portland. Vigor was originally one of the Kaiser shipyards—known then as Cascade General—specifically designed to build T2 tankers during WWII. It produced over 150 T2’s and could build a complete ship in seven- ty days. Today, they do everything from basic ship repair and maintenance to complete vessel refits. In 2014, they took delivery of the largest floating drydock in North America, measuring 960 feet and capable of floating 80,000 tons. The Vigorous arrived in three pieces aboard one of the largest heavy-lift ships in the world. Peterson’s technicians are on-board ships at Vigor on a daily basis.
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