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History

Bay-Houston Towing has proudly been assisting ships calling Ports located along the Texas Gulf Coast since the late 1800’s. In 1875 Captain William Douglas Haden (1866-1944) joined a schooner named the MERMAID as cabin boy to help support his family upon his father’s passing and would go on to purchase and command the MERMAID as it transported building supplies from Galveston to Cedar Bayou, Texas. During his teenage years and in addition to sailing the MERMAID, the Captain ran a towpath of horses used to tow schooners up Cedar Bayou when there was not enough wind for the schooners to navigate. This would be Captain W.D. Haden’s first foray into the towing business and where the roots of the Bay-Houston Towing were established. Captain W.D. Haden’s family has owned the company for over a century and the fifth generation of family is currently working on the tugboats today.

  • 1890’s-Capt. W.D. Haden acquires his first steam tug to transport reef shell on Galveston Bay.
  • 1914-The Houston Ship Channel opens for business and the Bay Towing Co. provides the first tugs.
  • 1925- Capt. W.D. Haden purchased the Buffalo Bayou-Dan Ryan Towing Co. –renaming to Houston Towing Co.
  • 1926- The Port of Corpus Christi opens for business and the Bay Towing Company provides the first tugs.
  • 1948-Capt. Haden’s son, C.R. Haden, merges Bay Towing Co. and Houston Towing Co. into the present Bay-Houston Towing

From the roots of this humble and hardworking heritage has emerged one of the pre-eminent towboat companies in the United States. Bay-Houston Towing continues to proudly serve the Texas Gulf Coast by preserving the culture of innovation and creativity that Captain Haden started more than 100 years ago. Through the many decades of service, Bay-Houston Towing has continually invested in its people and equipment. These investments enable Bay-Houston Towing to service our customers with highly trained and experienced crew utilizing the very best available technologies found in one of the most modern tug fleets operating in the United States today.

We are proud to provide our customers one of the most modern tug fleets operating in the United States. Our tugs are highly customized to meet the unique demands of ships calling the Ports of Houston, Galveston, Texas City, Freeport and Corpus Christi. The majority of our diverse vessels are less than 10 years old and range in power from 1,700 to over 6,770 horsepower.

Our latest series of five new Z-tech 30-80 class tugs have a rated bollard pull of over 80 Metric Tons utilizing 6772 horsepower generated by highly advanced Low Emission Tier 4 Caterpillar Engines.

Our sophisticated fleet of tugs and professional crew coupled with unsurpassed customer service provide Bay-Houston Towing the unparalleled ability to provide the safest, most reliable and efficient tug service in the industry today.

Vision

Be the towage provider of choice by providing the safest, most reliable and efficient services customized to meet and exceed the expectations of our customers and ourselves.

Business Strategy

  • Unite 130 years of successful history with today's technologies to continually prepare to meet and exceed our customer's expectations for today and tomorrow.
  • Consistently reinvest in our people and equipment.
  • Preserve a culture of innovation and creativity.
  • Maintain a clear vision of the horizon by staying connected to industry and our customers.