New operators for Dutch Coastguard ETV

The contract was concluded with Multraship recently and will see Terneuzen-based Multraship operating the vessel for a period of ten years. The tug involved is the Marnavi Offshore owned anchor-handling tug levoli Amaranth which after a brief period of maintenance will be renamed Guardian.

Day-to-day operation of Ievoli Amaranth comes under the Netherland Coastguard and it is normally based in Den Helder putting to sea when the wind strength reaches Beaufort force five, particularly with onshore winds, situations surrounding disabled ships can quickly escalate with the threat of the vessel in trouble running aground on the country’s extensive and environmentally sensitive coastline.

Built by Selah Shipyard Turkey in 2013 Ievoli Amaranth is classed by ABS with notations including: Safety Standby Service, Fire-fighting class 1 and Oil Recovery Vessel Class 1 making it particularly suited to the multipurpose role of an ETV. Acting as a command platform for search and rescue duties is another duty expected of the vessel.

The 65m long, 15.5m beam vessel is powered by two MAK main engines developing 8,000kW in total and a maximum bollard pull of 149t. Propulsion is via conventional twin controllable pitch propellers turning in fixed nozzles with manoeuvring enhanced by two tunnel thrusters forward and one aft, the vessel also meets DP2 notation.

The question of what type of towing vessel is best suited to the role of ETV is often debated and AHTs are popular with their multipurpose capabilities from working in the offshore oil and gas industry. The McGregor/Cargotech towing and anchor-handling winch has a towing drum carrying 1,500m of 70mm wire, a line pull of 150T and a brake holding load of 300T. The anchor-handling drum has capacity for 1,000m of 86mm wire.

By Peter Barker