TOWLINES October 2010 – by Jack Gaston

This latest arrival replaces the Spanish built 50 ton bollard pull Temeraire (formerly Honce 2005) that has been transferred to the Boluda fleet in Dakar with the new name VB Nora. VB Trouville, one of the series of relatively new tugs built in 2008 by the Chantier Piriou shipyard at Concarneau, is now renamed VB Puissant. Sister ship VB Adroit has been operating in Dunkirk for some time.

Nordane Shipping of Svendborg has taken delivery of its very last Canadian-built tug from Irvine Shipbuilding Inc in Halifax. Named Stevns Battler, the tug is sister to the Stevns Breaker delivered earlier this year (MJ August 2010). Both tugs are fitted with Caterpillar 3516B-HD engines developing a total of 5,434bhp and have a bollard pull of 72 tons. In eight years, Nordane Shipping and its ‘single ship’ companies have ordered nine tugs from two Canadian shipyards. As an added bonus, on its delivery voyage Stevns Battler succeeded in rescuing the Danish freighter SDK Italy, which suffered an engine breakdown in the Atlantic Ocean. Stevns Battler deviated from its course to Denmark and towed the SDK Italy to Ponta Delgada in the Azores.

New tugs for Transnet National Ports Authority in South Africa continue to roll off the production line at Southern Ocean Shipyards Durban (MJ-December 2009). Of the seven 70 tons bollard pull Voith tractor tugs on order; Shasa was delivered in November 2009, Orca in March 2010, followed by Pholela in September. Lotheni and Lilani, will be ready to enter service in October 2010 and April 2011 respectively. The tugs will be deployed to Durban, the new port of Nqura, and Richards Bay. A seventh tug, as yet un-named, is likely to go to the port of Richards Bay.

The Voith tractor tug Smit Liverpool was sold recently to Craignish Ltd of Nigeria and re-registered under the flag of St. Vincent and Grenadines. Built locally by McTay at Bromborough in 1984 as the Bramley Moore, it is a tug of 33m in length powered by two Ruston 270M diesels producing 3,440 bhp and a bollard pull of 38.5 tons. Bramley Moore was sold to Smit in 2007 and renamed Smit Liverpool. The tug will be managed by Ship & Shore Services Ltd. and the name shortened to Liverpool.