Verret Delivers Mv. Eunice To Marine Chartering Associates
Marine Chartering Associates LLC, a marine equipment lessor based in Houston, has taken delivery of a new 1,500 hp. towboat. Built by Verret Shipyard in Plaquemine, La., and operated by Strategic Towing Services of Orange, Texas, the mv. Eunice features a retractable wheelhouse and accommodations for a crew of four.
Measuring 65 by 26 by 10.6 feet, the mv. Eunice’s 1,500 hp. is supplied by twin Cummins QSK19 main engines rated 750 hp. each at 1,800 rpm. The main engines are mated to Twin Disc gears with a reduction ratio of 6.96:1, and they turn 74- x 58-inch propellers on 6-inch shafts with Wärtsilä seals. Ship’s service for the Eunice is provided by two John Deere 4045 marine generators rated 65 kw each.
The engines are cooled by East Park Radiator grid coolers. Within the hull is tankage for 12,000 gallons of fuel and 9,400 gallons of potable water. Steering for the two main and four flanking rudders is accomplished by a fully redundant, electric-over-hydraulic system made by Custom Hydraulic Components. Eagle Controls supplied the vessel alarm system aboard the mv. Eunice.
The Subchapter M-compliant vessel has air-conditioned and heated accommodations arranged in two staterooms. The crews’ quarters, galley and pilothouse all have fire-resistant paneling and ceilings with sound and vibration damping. There are two baths and showers.
The vessel is equipped with an Ahead sanitation system. The pilothouse, which has an eye level of 29 feet when fully raised and an air draft of 16 feet, 10 inches when fully retracted, houses a full suite of electronic equipment from Wheelhouse Electronics. Atop the pilothouse are two Carlisle & Finch xenon searchlights and a Kahlenberg duplex airhorn. On deck are two 40-ton Nabrico winches. The tow knees and hull are protected by fenders from M&M Bumpers.
Gulf Capital Bank in Houston supplied the vessel’s financing.
“The Eunice is the ninth towboat for Marine Chartering since 2019 and the third vessel built by Verret for the company, following the mvs. Miss Carter W and Callaway, the latter of which we sold to Parker Towing,” said Marine Chartering owner John McMahan.
“We bareboat chartered the Eunice to Strategic Towing Services, which will operate the vessel on the Gulf Coast,” McMahan added. “We appreciate the excellent workmanship by Verret and its staff, as well as our expanding relationship with Strategic.”
McMahan was part of an acquisition team that bought Higman Towing in 1986 and built it from a 10-boat, 22-barge company into one with more than 70 boats and close to 150 barges.
Strategic Towing, more familiarly known as Neches River Fleet, operates a 100-barge fleet in an oxbow of the Neches River five miles from its intersection with the GIWW. The company was founded in 2017 by James Robertson and Chris Bouquet, who worked together at CLM Towing.
About The Namesake
The vessel’s namesake, Eunice Palmer McMahan, was born in Galveston, Texas, in 1909.
“When she was six,” John McMahan said of his mother, “her parents moved the family to the new Houston suburb of The Heights, which is where she grew up with her sisters Laura and Virginia and brothers John and Oscar.
“A graduate of John H. Reagan High School, she enjoyed singing and playing gospel music with her sisters on local radio,” McMahan added.
The trio was known as the Palmer Sisters.
She met her husband, Robert D. McMahan, in the 1930s. The couple married in 1938 and celebrated 66 years of marriage before his death in 2004.
“She was a wonderful mother and caring member of the community,” McMahan said. “Although she passed away in 2006, her memory and talents live on through her grandchildren, Robert, Carter and Amanda, and her great grandchildren, John Thomas and Michael Wimberly and Madeliene and Alexandra McMahan.”
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Featured photo caption: Marine Chartering Associates’ mv. Eunice, built by Verret Shipyard in Plaquemine, La., pictured with its pilothouse in the raised position. (Photo by Hunter Svetanics)
