MASSENA – A new $24 million tugboat for the St. Lawrence Seaway wasn’t used this past winter, but U.S. Department of Transportation officials say they anticipate using it for the 2021-22 winter.

The Seaway Guardian arrived in Massena last summer, the Saint Lawrence Seaway Development Corporation had previously announced in a news release. 

However, the 62-year-old Robinson Bay was used to break ice this year that had accumulated between Eisenhower and Snell locks. US DOT officials said that was because of “limited ice conditions,” and added that the tug is not undergoing any major reconstruction.

However, “the Seaway Guardian was utilized last November to assist a vessel that had lost its engines and to assist in a Search and Rescue mission,” said Nancy Alcade, Great Lakes St. Lawrence Seaway Development Corporation director of congressional and public relations.

“The Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Seaway System anticipates utilizing the Seaway Guardian to break ice in limited areas this coming winter, if necessary. We also anticipate the Guardian will be used to conduct routine maintenance to buoys, as well as conducting buoy runs in the future,” she said.

Alcade said in addition to icebreaking, it’s also capable of emergency services, such as shipboard or waterside fires, pollution incidents (pulling boom) and assisting grounded vessels.

The $24 million Seaway Guardian was built at Gulf Island Shipyards in Houma, La. The keel was laid on June 26, 2018 and the vessel launched on September 12, 2019. Sea trials in the Gulf of Mexico were completed in June 2020 and it began the three-week delivery voyage to Massena on July 2, 2020.

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