MORE POWER - MORE PERFORMANCE

MTU Marine Power Offers Significant Performance Improvements to Transportation Fleet.

Shaver Transportation is one of the oldest, most established inland water freight operations in the Pacific Northwest, and has led river-borne transportation on the Columbia-Snake River System since its inception. Founded in 1880 by George W. Shaver as a steamboat company, Shaver Transportation remains family owned and managed more than a century later. Today, the company focuses on harbor services, and inland bulk commodity barging from the farming communities in eastern Washington and Idaho for international export.

For five generations, the Shaver family has prided itself on having the most modern and powerful fleet of ship assist tugs on the Columbia River. As their once top-of-the-line vessels began to spend more time in maintenance and less time on the river, Shaver Transportation looked to Pacific Power Products and MTU for engine repower options. The first candidate for repower was the Deschutes

The Deschutes repower marked the beginning of Shaver Transportation’s practice of repowering viable vessels with MTU’s Series 4000 marine propulsion engines to improve durability and to lower fuel consumption. The Deschutes repower took place when the Series 4000 marine propulsion was first available in the early 2000s, and took the place of the Deschutes engines, two dated Detroit Diesel Series 149 engines.

“We needed engines that were not only capable of being efficient and high performing in a short haul scenario, but we also needed dependability, reliability and fuel efficiency for long haul work,”said president of Shaver Transportation.

The caliber of Shaver Transportation’s fleet has remained cutting-edge by working closely with its MTU distributor, Pacific Power Products. With strategic MTU repower recommendations as engines reach the end of their lives, the Shaver fleet has made dramatic improvements in fuel efficiency, durability, reliability, noise and vibration.