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Home / Washington Business - September/October 2005 / Member Profile - FOSS MARITIME: Pulling Their Weight at Sea |
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Member Profile - FOSS MARITIME: Pulling Their Weight at Sea |
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Written On: September/October 2005 |
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Written By: by Shawn Sullivan |
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Every time a large commercial tanker exceeding 40,000 deadweight tons enters a West Coast port after a journey across open waters, or leaves port at the start of another, a tugboat must accompany it. In Washington, FOSS Maritime, a subsidiary of Marine Resources Group, owns and operates that tugboat.
FOSS Maritime began in 1889, when Thea Foss purchased a used rowboat in Tacoma for $5. She painted the newly-acquired boat green and white — the same colors used on the FOSS fleet today — and sold the boat at a profit. Before long, she bought and sold enough boats to keep a fleet of rowboats to rent. Thea soon acquired a boathouse on the waterway and painted their new slogan, "Always Ready," on the side of it — a slogan still used by FOSS Maritime to show its continuing commitment to exceptional service.
By 1904, Thea's husband, Andrew, joined his wife's business, and renamed it Foss Launch Company. Together they purchased 10 launches and bought a local shipyard complete with 60 passenger boats and a small rescue craft for towing broken vessels. More than 100 years later, FOSS Maritime turned Thea Foss's rowboat operation into the most versatile, advanced fleet of tugboats in the United States.
"We escort ships and tankers in the Puget Sound, San Francisco Bay and Long Beach-Los Angeles Harbor as regulated by law," said Scott Merritt, FOSS Maritime’s senior vice president of harbor services and regional towing. "That entails the tug meeting the ship as it enters the port, either made up with a line or just following along side the ship until the tug assists it to the dock."
The tugs used by FOSS move the world's largest ships with the greatest of ease, using crews with highly-developed skills. FOSS utilizes state-of-the-art tugs like the VSP cycloidal and ASD tractor tugs to accomplish its mission.
The VSP cycloidal tug is one of the most efficient tugs in the world at high-speed tanker escort and assist. FOSS operates VSP cycloidal tugs that range from 3,000 to 8,000 horsepower and can direct their thrust in any direction. ASD tractor tugs can also direct their thrust in any direction and are particularly adept at providing maximum pull during ship-assist operations. These unique designs make these types of tugs almost a necessity in harbor operations.
While escorting ships to and from ports is a big piece of what FOSS Maritime has to offer, it is only one aspect of its diverse corporate structure. In addition to a fleet of tugboats, FOSS operates a broad spectrum of support services, multipurpose commodity barges and a rail barge liner service.
"We have a multitude of services," FOSS Maritime Executive Vice President Gary Faber said. "We offer everything from bunkering — supplying fuel to ships — to fire fighting." FOSS even helped construct the first Tacoma Narrows Bridge and rescued the new Interstate 90 floating bridge from sinking in 1990.
FOSS Maritime also navigates 480 miles on the Columbia and Snake rivers transporting grain and wood products from eastern Washington to the the ports of Vancouver, Wash. and Portland, Ore. "We support the dredging of the Columbia River Basin and maintenance of the Ballard Locks," Merritt said. With its support structure in place all around the continent, FOSS employs more than 1,500 workers nationwide, with employees averaging 20 years on the job.
Another of FOSS’s diverse services on the sea includes product movement. "Part of what we do is move products with little or no environmental effects," Faber said. "We move everything from lead and zinc in Alaska to construction supplies and modular buildings to various oil field industries around the world."
The company moves products in Alaska by using two of the most technologically-advanced boats on the water today. FOSS converted two 286-foot barges into lighterage vessels by fitting them with large deckhouses and giant boom conveyers. These newly-converted barges reach some of the most remote mining facilities in Alaska, saving the time and expense of attempting to steer a large ship through shallow and often treacherous waters. These barges take ore from the mines and load it onto ships anchored four miles away.
The newest aspect of the company entails its plan to manufacture the necessary tugs to replace its entire fleet instead of purchasing new tugs from other vendors. "We built and delivered our first tug in more than 65 years," Faber said. Construction of the new tugs takes place in the FOSS shipyard in Oregon with an expectation of a number of the new tugs being finished by 2010.
FOSS has the ability to locate its headquarters anywhere in the world, so why do they stay in Washington? "Washington is our home," Merritt said. "We have deep-rooted ties to the community, and we feel privileged to be a part of this beautiful environment."
The core values held by FOSS employees reflects the values of the community by focusing on improving the protection of the environment, the community and the customer. "We built upon a sense of community that started in the 1800s with Thea Foss," Faber said. "We are as passionate today as the company was when it started."
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