Hawaii the first of two ‘line haul’ tugs for Hyak Marine

Hawaii and sister ship Washington, due for completition at the end of the year, were ordered from the shipyard of J T Marine Inc, situated on the Columbia River in Vancouver, WA, USA.

The design for Hawaii and Washington is based on the successful ‘Titan’ class tugs which Jensen developed in conjunction with Western Towboat, a tug and barge company operating regular barge services between Seattle and Alaska. Western Towboat continues to own and operate these tugs and has been sufficiently satisfied with the design that it is currently constructing its seventh ‘Titan’ class vessel to the same Jensen design.

The new Hawaii is a 36.6m long coastal and deepsea tug with a beam of 10.67m and azimuthing stern drive (ASD) propulsion, with a bollard pull of 80 tonnes and designed to tow over the stern. Important objectives for Jensen were to provide vessels that are are fuel efficient, with lower maintenance costs and exceptional crew comfort.

Built to comply with ABS +A1 Towing Service class rules, the tugs are powered by two General Electric 8L250 EPA Tier II engines, each rated 1,999KW (total 5,358 bhp) at 900 rpm. The main engines are coupled to a pair of fully steerable Schottel 1515 propulsion units for superior handling when manoeuvring tows in port and at close quarters.

Hawaii and Washington will consume significantly less fuel and enjoy much lower maintenance costs than other oceangoing tugboats with equivalent power. The tugs are certified to sail in all US and worldwide waters with the smallest possible crew.

On the foredeck is mounted a JonRie Series 200 bow winch with a brake holding capacity of 200 tons and a line pull of 5 tonnes at a line speed of 20 m/min. The single winch drum can accommodate 150m of 60mm synthetic fibre towline. The winch controls feature a JonRie joystick feather speed control, auto render block, fail safe brakes and auto abort system. An independent integral capstan is also fitted.

The towing winch aft is a JonRie Series 500 double drum towing winch with a brake capacity of 285 tonnes. The main drum has a line pull of 70 tonnes at a line speed of 25 m/min and carries a 750m long towline of 60mm SWR. A second, auxiliary drum, has a line pull of 50 tons and is equipped with 550m of 50mm SWR towline. This winch features JonRie’s independent level wind, an auto abort system, and a gypsy head that can all be operated from the pilot house. Both drums come with JonRie’s Controlled Free Wheel system to feather line out at a rapid pace and feather back so the line will not jump out of the water.

State of the art deck layout and good line of sight from the wheelhouse ensures that once a tow is made up there is never a need to be on the afterdeck until it is disconnected.