Foss Maritime (formerly Foss Launch and Tug Company), is an American tugging company. The company was founded in 1889 by

Thea Foss Thea Christiansen Foss (8 June 1857 – 7 June 1927) was the founder of Foss Maritime, the largest tugboat company in the western United States. She was the real-life person on which the fictional character "Tugboat Annie" (originally portrayed ...

(1857–1927) and her husband Andrew Foss. The company is now the largest tug and towing concern on the

west coast of the United States The West Coast of the United States, also known as the Pacific Coast, Pacific states, and the western seaboard, is the coastline along which the Western United States meets the North Pacific Ocean. The term typically refers to the contiguous U.S ...

. On July 2, 2013, Foss Marine Holdings announced that (effective at that date) it would merge all of its operations and resources under a single name: 'Foss Maritime Company'.

Founding and early years

The Foss concern began in 1889 with a single rowboat which Thea Foss rented by the day in Tacoma while her husband Andrew, a builder, was working on a construction project. At the end of the building, the Fosses realized that Thea's boat had made them more money than Andrew's carpentry. They acquired more boats and soon began operating larger vessels, branching out into sailboats,

naptha Naphtha ( or ) is a flammable liquid hydrocarbon mixture. Mixtures labelled ''naphtha'' have been produced from natural gas condensates, petroleum distillates, and the distillation of coal tar and peat. In different industries and regions '' ...

launches, gasoline-engined vessels, and scows and barges. By 1916 Foss Launch and Tug Company bought Captain O.G. Olson's Tacoma towing business, including the steam tugs ''Echo'', ''Elf'', and ''Olympian''. When Thea Foss died in 1927, the company owned 27 gasoline, diesel, and steam powered vessels, and numerous unpowered barges. Tugboat Arthur Foss

Later years

Foss was purchased by

Saltchuk Saltchuk is a family of transportation and distribution companies headquartered in Seattle, WA, US. , ''Puget Sound Business Journal'' listed it as the largest family owned business in Washington state, with 2016 revenues of $2.65 billion, employm ...

in 1987. In 2021, the company announced the closure of their shipyard on Seattle's

Lake Washington Ship Canal The Lake Washington Ship Canal, which runs through the city of Seattle, connects the fresh water body of Lake Washington with the salt water inland sea of Puget Sound. The Hiram M. Chittenden Locks accommodate the approximately difference in ...

Early vessels

Foss Maritime started out only with rowboats with their signature white and green trim paint. Soon Foss started expanding their venue of work. They saw what the people of Washington wanted, so they expanded to developing towing tugs. Some of their first powered vessels were built by the hands of the Foss family itself. Her first power vessel was the ''St. Patrick'', a steamer that operated in the

Commencement Bay Commencement Bay is a bay of Puget Sound in the U.S. state of Washington. The city of Tacoma is located on the bay, with the Port of Tacoma occupying the southeastern end. A line drawn from Point Defiance in the southwest to Browns Point in ...

. The steamer ran aground, and was fully rebuilt by Thea's carpenter husband. The boat was then sold for another steamer. Their second powered vessel was ''Lizzie A''. This was one of the worst boats the Foss family ever owned and they quickly sold the unreliable vessel for $500. One of the most important ships that is still seen today in the Puget Sound area is the vessel called ''Hope''. This was a naphtha-fueled vessel that solely operated rafting giant Douglas Fir logs in the sound area.

Bay Area

On September 1, 1993, Foss Maritime expanded into the San Francisco Bay Area, maintaining a pool of vessels and barges for Tug/Barge escort, docking, and other services in conjunction with SeaRiver maritime. Today Foss provides three large conventional SeaRiver tugs and one Foss cycloidal tractor tug. The Foss SeaRiver Tug office is located at 150A West Industrial Way, Benicia, CA .

Current officers

*Will Roberts, President and COO

Hybrid technology

In recent times, Foss Maritime has been working on lowering their NOx and

carbon dioxide Carbon dioxide ( chemical formula ) is a chemical compound made up of molecules that each have one carbon atom covalently double bonded to two oxygen atoms. It is found in the gas state at room temperature. In the air, carbon dioxide is t ...

emissions. Foss constructed a hybrid tug, ''Caroline Dorothy'', to reduce atmospheric pollution. Their hybrid craft cuts down as much as 44% of harmful

emissions Emission may refer to: Chemical products * Emission of air pollutants, notably: **Flue gas, gas exiting to the atmosphere via a flue ** Exhaust gas, flue gas generated by fuel combustion ** Emission of greenhouse gases, which absorb and emit radi ...

dispersed into the atmosphere. In July 2013, Foss announced to retrofit a third tug.

Other new developments

Foss Maritime developed and built an ASD

Z-Drive A Z-drive is a type of marine propulsion unit. Specifically, it is an azimuth thruster. The pod can rotate 360 degrees allowing for rapid changes in thrust direction and thus vessel direction. This eliminates the need for a conventional rudder. ...

and Voith Schneider Propulsion cycloidal tractor tugs capable of working with the largest vessels in its operating area.

Awards

In 2008, the

United States Coast Guard The United States Coast Guard (USCG) is the maritime security, search and rescue, and law enforcement service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the country's eight uniformed services. The service is a maritime, military, m ...

awarded Foss Maritime its most prestigious environmental honor for developing the low-emission, hybrid tugboat ''Green Dolphin''. The award was the William M. Benkert 'gold' award for their impact on the environment. Earlier, in June 2008, Foss won the

Environmental Protection Agency A biophysical environment is a biotic and abiotic surrounding of an organism or population, and consequently includes the factors that have an influence in their survival, development, and evolution. A biophysical environment can vary in scale ...

's Clean Air Excellence Award, also for their green tug. Foss also received a Commendation-Environmental Award from BP Shipping and an honorable mention for the 2008 Port of Seattle Environmental Business of the Year award. Foss has maintained their green technology. Recently, the company has been working on bringing a sister ship hybrid tug into the ports of

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world ...

and

Long Beach Long Beach is a city in Los Angeles County, California. It is the 42nd-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 466,742 as of 2020. A charter city, Long Beach is the seventh-most populous city in California. Incorporat ...

References

External links

* {{Puget Sound steam tugs Shipping companies of the United States Companies based in Tacoma, Washington