Panama Canal expands tug fleet

The new tugs will assist vessels moving through the new set of locks.    The Panama Canal Authority has received the last of 14 tractor tugs ordered from a Spanish shipbuilding company. The new tugboats will allow the Canal to offer more efficient service to commercial vessels and guide them through the third set of locks now under construction.
   Post-Panamax vessels going through the new, wider locks will be assisted by tugs instead of locomotives, as used in the existing locks.
   The Panama Canal now has a fleet of 46 tugboats.