2025 Waterford Tugboat Roundup

The 2025 Tug of the Year: Thomas X. Grasso

Since the completion of the Barge Canal in 1918, the State of New York has maintained a fleet of tugboats, dredges, tenders, floating derricks, and other small craft to keep the waterway in good operating condition.  Known as the “floating plant” – and sometimes the “Empire State Navy” – this fleet has been infrequently updated over the decades, with the historic vessels skillfully operated, and lovingly cared for, by their crews.  Built in 1901, the venerable URGER, the most famous of these vessels and the Canal System’s flagship, was the Tugboat Roundup’s 2001 Tug of the Year and the iconic 1927 Governor Cleveland took the honors in 2003.

But the ever-increasing demands on the Canal Corporation’s aging fleet, as well as new regulations promulgated by the United States Coast Guard, has prompted the entity which oversees the Canal Corporation’s, the New York Power Authority, to make new investments in the agency’s maintenance fleet.

After several diminutive (less than 26 feet in length) pushboats were acquired in recent years, the Canal Corporation has taken delivery of its first, full-sized tugboat in three-quarters of a century.  The vessel, built by Blount Builders Incorporated of Warren, RI, will be named in honor of one of the Canal System’s greatest advocates and experts: Professor Thomas X. Grasso.

Professor Grasso was an accomplished Canal scholar and President of the Canal Society of New York State for over 40 years. After founding the Geosciences Department at Monroe County Community College, he led that same department as Chair for nearly 30 years. In his capacity as Chair of the department, he introduced his students to the geology of the Canal by bring them on excursions via Canal tugboat, the first of which was aboard the Tug Lockport under the command of Capt. Bill Clifford, later floating plant supervisor and section superintendent of the Canal’s western-most section.  A geologist by training and Canaller at heart, Professor led the effort to save the Erie House and develop the Erie Canal Heritage Park in Port Byron, and to save and renovate the historic M/V Day Peckinpaugh – the last remaining Barge Canal-era motorship and the 2021 Boat of the Year. All who heard him speak about his beloved Canal with passion, humor, and eloquence were mesmerized. Professor Grasso, who also served as President of Inland Waterways International for an extensive period of time and who was a recipient of the TBR’s Capt. Bart Brake Canal Lifetime Achievement Award, passed away in 2022 after a lifetime of service to New York’s Canals.

In 2025, the Waterford Tugboat Roundup is pleased to honor the NYS Canal Corporation’s Thomas X. Grasso as the Tug of the Year, in honor of the State’s new investment in its floating plant, and in fond memory of our departed friend.

 

 

RYAN NAMED 2025 TUGBOAT PARADE GRAND MARSHALL

The Waterford Tugboat Roundup has named Thomas J. Ryan the 2025 Tugboat Parade Grand Marshall.

The Canals of New York State have figured prominently over Mr. Ryan’s long and distinguished career over many decades. Mr. Ryan served as an aid to Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan, who advocated for the New York State Canal System remaining a state-run waterway in the 1980s and whose amendment to the Inter-modal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991 (ISTEA) made the transfer of the Canal System from the State DOT to the State’s Thruway Authority possible. Mr. Ryan also served in several positions in the administration of Governor Mario Cuomo including special assistant to the Governor, where he helped shape New York State policy in a variety of areas.  While serving as Deputy Commissioner at NYSDOT, Mr. Ryan authored the 1989 Barge Canal Planning Board Report, which report paved the way for the Canal’s transfer to the Thruway Authority, and laid the groundwork for the 1995 Canal Recreationway Plan, which serves as the blueprint for the Canal’s operation today. Following this, Mr. Ryan also served as Deputy Commissioner of the Department of Motor Vehicles.

A reformed newspaperman, Mr. Ryan also went on to serve in the administration of President Bill Clinton, serving as Regional Administrator for both the Federal Transit Administration and then General Services Administration, consecutively.

As President of the State Council on Waterways, Mr. Ryan was instrumental in planning and executing a series of roundtables on statewide waterway policy, including environmental issues and both tourism-related and commercial uses of the State’s Canal System and interconnected waterways.  Notably, Mr. Ryan also established and personally helmed a successful tour boat program in Little Falls, NY, designed to get school groups and other interested parties out on the Canal System aboard the Erie Canal Boat.  Lastly, Mr. Ryan published Canal Times, a periodical devoted to happenings along the historic waterway and in and around the communities connected by it.

Mr. Ryan returned to State service, assuming the duties as Chief of Staff at the New York State Thruway in 2010, where he oversaw day-to-day operation of the 524-mile Canal System and 570-mile highway. In this capacity, Mr. Ryan spearheaded efforts to close the gaps in the Erie Canalway Trail, increase levels of customer service, and to construct the Lock E-13 Living History Rest Area from the westbound lanes of the Thruway near Yosts, and the Port Byron Erie Canal Heritage Park from the eastbound lanes of the Thruway in Port Byron. Mr. Ryan’s coordination of the response and repairs to several locks and dams long the Erie Canal in the Mohawk Valley that were obliterated during flooding from Hurricane Irene in 2011, with the damage exacerbated by Tropical Storm Lee just a short while later.  Despite the need to substantially rebuild these locks and dams, and restore the navigation channel, under Mr. Ryan’s direction and in close coordination with Director of Canals Brian U. Stratton, the Canal was rebuilt and reopened in just 84 days, a very noteworthy achievement.

Before retiring, Mr. Ryan concluded his State service as Director of the New York State Fair. A recipient of the Canal Society of New York State’s prestigious Spirit of the Canal award, Mr. Ryan has continued to write and lecture about New York’s Canal System and advocate for its continued use, preservation, and improvement.

As 2025 Grand Marshall, Mr. Ryan succeeds the inaugural Grand Marshall Russ VanDervoort in 2022, Capt. Thomas M. Doin in 2023, and GMC William Curry, USN, (Ret) in 2024.