In December 2006 it was announced the Svitzer Marine Ltd had signed a long term contract with the BG Group and Petronas Trading (UK) Ltd to provide tug and line boat services at the Dragon LNG Terminal at Milford Haven. The terminal, which is currently under construction, is expected to commence operations in the 4th quarter of 2007 and is expected to receive it first commissioning cargo in October.

The contract for the Dragon terminal covers the provision of four tugs to actively escort the LNG vessels in and out of the Haven, assist them in berthing and un-berthing operations, line boat and mooring services.  24 hour standby fire fighting and emergency response duties will also be provided whilst the vessel is on the berth. One dedicated escort tug of 90 tons bollard pull will be on permanent station at the terminal. A further tug of the same type and two vessels of 80 tons bollard pull will be made available to Dragon for all berthing and un-berthing operations. The latter trio will also provide towage and escort services to the oil berths in Milford Haven. The upstream location of the Dragon terminal allows both operations to be scheduled accordingly without disrupting traffic patterns.

Earlier this month (February) the South Hook LNG Terminal Company Ltd, acting on behalf of South Hook Gas Ltd, announced the award of a multi-million pound, 20 year, contract to Svitzer to commission and operate a fleet of five tugs to provide dedicated towage and escort services to LNG vessels supplying the South Hook LNG terminal at the seaward end of Milford Haven.

A fleet of tugs has been chosen to service the South Hook terminal that will be one of the most powerful and advanced assembled to operate anywhere in the world. The largest tug will have a bollard pull of approximately 110 tons, another tug a bollard pull of 90 tons and the remaining three tugs will be rated at 80 tons bollard pull.

Mr Mohammed Al Khaldy, South Hook General Manager said, ‘We are delighted to be working with Svitzer Marine Ltd.  They are world leaders in this field but also have considerable local knowledge. They have been working for many years in the Haven, have a well developed local infrastructure and are highly regarded by Milford Haven Port Authority.’

All of the nine tugs mentioned will be brand new azimuthing stern drive (ASD) tugs built to the highest technical standards and include full FiFi 1 fire fighting and escort capability. Six of the tugs, all four for the Dragon Terminal and the two largest vessels for South Hook will be constructed by the Friere Shipyard in Vigo Spain. They will all be ‘RAstar’ Class vessels, the latest and most advanced designs from the drawing board of Robert Allan Ltd of Vancouver. This new class has been developed to meet the demands of LNG terminal operators and are claimed to offer a superior shiphandling, escort and seakeeping performance at exposed terminal locations. The ‘RAstar’ hull form has been derived from earlier work carried out on advanced Voith escort tugs and has been extensively tank tested. Incorporated in the underwater form are a sponson style cross section to enhance stability, resist ‘deck edge immersion’ and increase towline forces. A deep skeg, extending forward to the bow, is also used to increase towline forces in the indirect (escort) mode of operation.

All four tugs for the Dragon contract and one for South Hook will be ‘RAstar 3400’ class vessels of 34m in length, with a moulded beam of 14m and navigational draft of 6.95m. The same basic machinery configuration will be used throughout , two General Electric 7FDM16 main engines coupled to Schottel SRP 3030CP azimuthing propulsion units incorporating controllable pitch propellers. One tug will have a bollard pull of 90 tons and three will have 80 tons as previously mentioned. The main engine rating will vary to achieve the bollard pull required, 80 or 90 tons.  A figure of 2x 2,900kW (total 7880 bhp) at 1,000 rev/min is quoted for the 90 tons bollard pull version.

A further ‘RAstar 3400’ class vessel with a 90 tons bollard pull will be built for the South Hook contract. The sixth tug in the series to be built by the Freire shipyard will be a much larger ‘RAstar 3900’ class vessel with a length of 39.10m, a moulded beam of 14.70m and maximum working draft of 5.75m. This tug, the principle escort tug for South Hook, will again have similar General Electric main engines and Schottel propulsion units but with a yet higher rating to achieve a bollard bull astern of 110 tons and maximum free running speed of 15 knots.

The remaining three tugs for use at South Hook are under construction at the Qinjian Shipyard in Qingdao, China. Identical, high performance ASD tugs, they are described by Svitzer as ‘stretched ‘M’ class vessels, developed from the successful series of 30m tugs originally built by an associate yard of parent group AP Moller in Lithuania. To achieve the required bollard pull of 80 tons the tugs will be fitted with two Niigata 6L28HLX diesels rated at 2,206 kW each (total 6000 bhp) driving Z-Peller ZP-41HG propulsion units with fixed pitch propellers.

Also under construction in China is a series of six 12.8m line handling boats designed by Seatech Solutions International (S) Pte Ltd. The low profile twin screw vessels will have a draft of only 1.5m, have capacity for up to 4 crew and 9 passengers, and a speed of 8 knots. A pair of 305bhp Scania diesels will propel the boats and a bollard pull of 6 tons is anticipated. Two of the vessels will be dedicated to the South Hook contract and the remainder will be deployed for use at the Dragon terminal and elsewhere.

Delivery of the new tugs will be phased between early 2008 and January 2009. As an interim measure, tugs from the existing Svitzer fleet will be supplemented by two chartered tugs, the Remo and Braveheart. Remo is a purpose built terminal tug of 6,470 bhp with a bollard pull astern of 77 tons and 85 tons ahead, built in 2005. The tug is already in use with Svitzer covering other work as required. Braveheart is a 100 tons bollard pull terminal and escort tug  of  7,596 bhp, built in 2003. Both tugs have ASD propulsion systems and are fully equipped to FiFi 1 standards for fire fighting and emergency response duties.

By JACK GASTON