Damen to build two ‘Green’ tugs for Iskes

This first contract of its kind was signed at Europort 2011 in Rotterdam by managing directors of all three participating companies; Jim Iskes of Iskes Towage & Salvage, Michiel Wijsmuller of OSD and Jos van Woerkum of Damen Hardinxveld.

Iskes Towage & Salvage put it’s first ever Damen built tug, Argus, a standard series built ASD Tug 2810, into operation in November of 2011. Pleased with its performance, Iskes decided to entrust Damen Shipyards Hardinxveld with the task of building two vessels to the revolutionary ASD 3212 ‘Green Tug’ design produced by Iskes and OSD and intended to reduce CO2, SOx and NOx emissions by 30%. The tugs will be delivered by mid-2013.

Iskes Towage & Salvage has strived to reduce CO2, SOx and NOx particles since 2009, with the ultimate goal of achieving zero emissions. Triggered by the ports of Rotterdam and Amsterdam’s commitment to the World Ports Climate Initiative, Iskes teamed up with OSD to develop a tug with a 30% emission reduction. Other stakeholders included the research centre MARIN and tug operator Smit. Currently, the ‘Green Tug’ project is in the final, detailed design stage, in close cooperation with Damen Shipyards Hardinxveld and Damen Research, especially with regard to propulsion and bollard pull.

Damen’s Jos van Woerkum said, “The ‘Green Tug’ has several similarities with our Damen E3 project that aims for environmentally friendly, economically viable, and efficiently operating ships. Secondly, this is the first time Damen is building a vessel that it has not designed in-house. Damen Shipyards Hardinxveld is known for its Multi-Cats, Shoalbusters and patrol vessels. However, the Damen ASD 3212 design neatly fits within the OSD-Iskes format of the Azistern 3270. In addition, we work in an ‘open calculation’ format. Cost control is important if this design is to be a commercial success. However, with this project there’s no fixed price! The ‘Green Tug’s’ development is more important.”

The ‘Green Tug’ will have diesel-electric propulsion, incorporating electrically powered azimuthing propulsion units, bow thruster and winch. In order to reduce emissions while mobilising to a job the tug will sail on battery power. The power management system will ensure that the master of the tug always gets the power he needs regardless of whether the power comes from batteries or from one or more diesel generators. When operating at cruising speed, only one generator will be used, reducing fuel consumption and maintenance. The vessel will have a bollard pull of 70 tons and will be equipped with a double drum winch with independently controlled drums. This enables two towlines to be deployed at the same time and controlled independently, a very practical method when manoeuvring in confined spaces.

Jos van Woerkum concluded with the following comments, “Although Jim and I never did business before, we’ve known each other quite well for a long time and understand each other’s needs. A man and a client like Jim Iskes goes well with our type of organisation. He’s very straightforward, knows what he wants and is not afraid of participating in new developments. He’s an experienced captain and as a ship owner he’s bursting with ideas. In short, a real entrepreneur.

“Our own experience is added to his. With every new vessel we try to improve our standards. We sail along when the vessel is doing its job and evaluate if it does what we designed it to do. We always try to put our knowledge of clients and ships into our design and production standards. Standardisation is of course one of Damen’s basic strengths.

“So, why did we decide to build the ‘Green Tug’, this non-standard project? Because it’s a real innovation, a chance to co-create a future standard and, of course, because it’s work for our shipyard. My message is: Damen can build more than standard vessels and at the same time deliver added value because of our standards. We’re proud to participate in Iskes’ project.”