Shaver Transportation, which provides ship handling services at all the ports of the lower Columbia River and barge hauling services down the Columbia-Snake River system, has been operating tugs on the Columbia since 1880 when its sternwheel steamboats towed sailing ships up the river to Portland. Today, the Shaver family still owns and manages the company and continues to develop new approaches to tug design in their fleet of 16 tugs and 22 grain barges, ranging from eight ASD (Z drive) ship-handling designs to powerful push tugs in the 90- to 100-foot range. One feature that covers most of this…