Case Study: Rodriguez Ship Building achieves shallow-draft towing performance with Cummins marine engines

Rodriguez Ship Building - Customer Case Study

Rodriguez Ship Building, a Bayou LaBatre, Alabama shipyard known for shallow-draft tug designs, needed a propulsion solution for a new 75-by-28-foot bow tug that could operate efficiently in very shallow Gulf Coast waters while still delivering high power for towing and pushing. The vessel, Sea Cypress, required a reliable marine engine package from Cummins to support near-shore petro-operations and varied duty cycles.

Cummins supplied three 660-HP QSK19 six-cylinder marine engines, paired with Twin Disc MGX5222 gears, giving the tug nearly 2,000 HP total in a triple-screw configuration. The result was a shallow 10-foot molded depth and the ability to operate in as little as 8 feet of water, while also meeting EPA Tier 3 requirements and improving the operator’s visibility with an elevated pilothouse.

Rodriguez Ship Building