PORTLAND (AP) – Boatbuilders at the Washburn & Doughty yard in East Boothbay may root for the Boston Red Sox, but business is business.

So when it came to building a tugboat for New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner, Maine’s baseball loyalties were set aside.

Washburn & Doughty designed and built the 5,000-horsepower state-of-the-art tug, The Independent, for Marine Towing of Tampa, Fla., a tugboat firm owned by Steinbrenner and his family.

The boat was christened this week by Tampa Mayor Pam Iorio, a native of Waterville, and carried a price tag of $5 million – $20 million less than the Yankees will pay Alex Rodriguez in an average year.

Bruce Washburn, vice president of Washburn & Doughty, acknowledges that Maine, as part of Red Sox Nation, despises the Yankees and anything linked to its high-profile owner.

But not only is a Maine shipyard working for Steinbrenner, the team owner’s family shipped a box of Yankees caps to East Boothbay.

“I got takers for all of them,” Washburn said. “The whole box they brought up is gone.”


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