Delivery and order round-up

Last month MJ featured Svitzer Adira, an 80tbp RAstar 2800 ASD tug from Sanmar Shipyards for Svitzer’s Southampton fleet. Two more of the same class have now been delivered to Svitzer by Sanmar, Svitzer Avon and Svitzer Marton, for operation at the UK ports of Bristol and Middlesbrough respectively. They have slightly lower bollard pull figures of 70 tonnes compared with their Southampton sister.

The UK market has had a strong presence on Sanmar’s production line of late with SMS Towage of Hull recently christening Superman, a Bogacay class vessel of 70tbp and one of its most powerful tugs to date for operation on the south bank of the river Humber to meet growing demand in the tanker and bulk carrier sectors. It is worth also reminding ourselves of another Bogacay class tug, Kittiwake delivered to Targe Towing in Aberdeen just two weeks after the order was placed.

At the SeaTrade Offshore Marine & Workboats Middle East exhibition recently, Sanmar announced the signing of a deal for two Robert Allan RAscal 1800 tugs (designated Yenicay VI and Yenicay VII) for Abu Dhabi Port Company. The 30tbp vessels will operate at Mussafah and Zayed Ports, the first due to enter service as this is being written, the second due early in 2018.

Based at Hardinxveld-Giessendam in the Netherlands, Neptune Marine produce a variety of vessels from tugs and workboats to jack-ups and cargo vessels and recently one of its EuroCarrier 2495 tug/workboats was delivered to Cape Preston Port Company in Australia.

A short lead time was specified involving conversion of a partially completed EuroCarrier and the new vessel, named CS Sandpiper was modified to the customer’s specification, also meeting Australian regulatory requirements. Powered by Caterpillar main engines delivering 22tbp, CS Sandpiper was delivered to Australia by heavy-lift vessel and is now in operation at the Sino Iron Project, the largest magnetite mining and processing operation in Australia.

Still in the Netherlands, two deliveries of note are reported by Damen Shipyards. Like the previously mentioned EuroCarrier from Neptune, Damen is also well-known for its series of MultiCat tug/workboats. While the MultiCat 1908 Murjan 40, recently delivered to Murjan Al-Sharq Marine Services of Saudi Arabia is intended for shallow-water dredging duties and not directly equipped for towing it is worthy of mention as an example of the adaptability of the MultiCat range regularly mentioned in this column.

The second Damen vessel to report takes us to Wilson Sons shipyard in Guarujá Brazil where the 71tbp SST-Aruá, second in a series of four ASD Tug 2411s (following SST-Aimoré) recently joined the fleet of SAAM Smit Towage. Contractually, Wilson Sons had 20 months to deliver the first two, but both were completed in just over 18 months. Both will operate in the Port of Santos.

Saint Petersburg-based Pella Shipyard is another producer of series-built tugs and the latest harbour tug, part of Project 16609 bearing the name RB-2186 recently joined the Russian Navy’s Pacific fleet. As well as usual shiphandling duties the tug can operate up to 100 miles offshore, capable of salvage and firefighting duties. The 28.5m LOA vessel has a Fluidmecanica towing winch forward and a towing hook aft. Fluidmecanica also supply an articulated crane aft and FFS supply the firefighting system.

Finally, Cheoy Lee Shipyards and Robert Allan Ltd have announced an exclusive new tug series to be built by the Hong Kong-based shipbuilder. The RAmparts 2500-CL is an evolution of the RAmparts-W design updated for Cheoy Lee’s marketing objectives with delivery of the first example due early in 2018. Bollard pulls of 50t, 60t or 70t are offered along with a choice of single or split-drum forward winch and optional aft winch and firefighting system, a variety of MLC compliant accommodation layouts are available.

By Peter Barker