Propulsion variety for new boats

Equipment from Schottel, Sisu and Volvo was chosen for two versatile but very different workboats going into service in Bremen for German waterway and shipping authorities. They are the 35m floating grab dredger Elsflether Sandand the 27.1 general maintenance workboat Weserplate.

The Danish-builtElflether Sand, costing €3.3m, boasts two Schottel SRP 320 rudder propellers, driven by two Sisu 74 CTIM main diesels of 200 kW each. A CPJ 22 55kW Schottel Pumpjet driven by an electric motor is on hand as an aid to manoevering.

The 9.5m wide boat, drawing just 0.9m,has already been delivered. Bremen spokesman Rüdiger Oltmanns told MJ it was being equipped at workshops in Brake before entering service. With stilts, a rock box and a fixed hydraulic dredge, it is for dredging maintenance on the Weser and on the Lesum and Hunte rivers. Elsflether Sandis one of seven multi-purpose boats ordered at Denmark’s Faaborg Vaerft for a number of German waterway and shipping bodies.

Weserplate, costing €4.2m, also has two Schottel SRP 320 rudder propellers, but this time a Volvo main engine has been chosen to go with them. The Volvo engine is a Penta D9 300MH of 221kW. Another Volvo unit, a Penta D5A-TA of 118kW, also drives the boat’s Schottel SPJ 22 Pumpjet.

Weserplate has been built at German small ship specialist yard Fassmer and is 6.7m wide and draws 1.2m. It is also for maintenance work on the Weser, Lesum and Hunte and boasts a workshop, a generous deck area, an MKG marine crane of Type HMC 351 a4 and a folding bow ramp.

A series of four multi-functional patrol boats being built at the other end of the German Baltic coast are also at the other end of the propulsion spectrum. The first of the 52m long, 10m wide units has just been delivered to the Swedish Coast Guard by Peene Werft in Wolgast, part of P&S Werften. MTU engines are the propulsion system of choice and P&S said the powerful KBV 032, which draws 3m maximum, boasts four 800kW Type MTU 16V 2000 M60 engines providing 15.5 knots.

P&S said a second boat was on sea trials for delivery soon. Earlier reports had however said it would be handed over with the first in Spring and that the last two would be delivered by August. The flexible newbuildings tackle coastal patrol and border, fisheries and customs duties. They are also equipped to fight fires and undertake SAR. Officially designated as oil recovery vessels, they also have 255m3 oil tanks and oil pumps and skimmers on board.

By Tom Todd