I watched that video awhile back.
Things of note.
-That isn't a real tugboat. Where I work the crew boats have more than 900hp and all they haul is ass.
-Angle of attack. Anyone that has pulled against anything can tell you that it needs to be a level pull to be honest. The boat is pulling down on the truck, thus aiding it in traction, so not a fair comparison
-That boat most likely has very high gears for a fast speed in the water. Our tugs aim for a shaft speed of 125-150rpms, so we have pretty deep reduction of 5:1 - 8:1
-Due to that boats size, it most likely has small wheels. Mine has 110inch wheels with a pretty serious bite to them.
-Boats are rated in bollard pull. Ours just got retested and it pulls 80,000lbs (40 ton). I don't suspect a truck (least none I've ever seen) has the traction for that.
Let us also remember that a boat is floating.... I mean pull 100lbs across the ground, not that bad eh? ok, go get in your pool and try to pull that 100lbs with a rope while you are swimming.... heck, try to pull 15lbs while swimming. Good luck with that. Now float the 100lbs and pull it through the water, that is easy, heck I've moved a 250ton tugboat by hand with nothing but a rope while it's floating (I'm 160lbs and 5 ft 9inches tall). That is why despite us burning up to 3,800gallons of fuel a day, water is still THE cheapest way to move goods by far. That said, the amount of force to pull 40 tons like my boat does is pretty mindblowing. Our engines make 40,000ft lbs of torque between them, but honestly any real work boat doesn't pay that much attention to horsepower... we're bollard pull rated for a reason.
Sure sure, my boat weights 350tons dry we hold 2,500 gallons of lube, 125,000 gallons of Fuel, and 15,000 gallons of water, but it can be pulled in the water by a couple dudes (I know, we done it).
So that is what I think of that.
