Survey specialists Emu Limited have purchased the tug Shannon for use as a survey vessel. The company has added the 35m tug to its current fleet of four vessels, the largest of which is 24m in length. The new acquisition will allow Emu to operate further offshore and for longer periods, enabling deeper water surveys to be completed within tighter time scales.
is a heavily built harbour and coastal tug originally built in 1981 as the
Eldergarthfor the now defunct Rea Towing Ltd, by McTay Marine at Bromborough. The tug is particularly noteworthy from an historical point of view as being the very first British built Azimuthing Stern Drive (ASD) tug.
Rea Towing subsequently went on to build several similar vessels, all of which are still in operation. Eldergarth was employed by Rea Towing and their successors, Cory Towage, Wijsmuller and latterly Svitzer, in the Mersey, Clyde, Avonmouth, Ireland and including a long period in Cabinda in West Africa. The vessel’s name was changed to Shannon in 1999 during a spell in Ireland.
Shannon is powered by a pair of Niigata 8L25BX 4SA main engines, generating a total of 3,200bhp, and fully steerable ‘Z-Peller’ propulsion units. The result is a very manoeuvrable vessel with a bollard pull of 40 tons.
Shannon has been re-equipped in Southampton to support geophysical, ecological, hydrographic and oceanographic site surveys, as well as geotechnical assessments using vibrocores and cone penetration tests (CPTs). The aft towing winch has been replaced by a suite of specialist winches, purpose built for survey work, and a stern mounted ‘A’ frame fitted. Further equipment may be added at a later date. Emu regard the acquisition of an ASD vessel of this type, with its inherent manoeuvrability, to be particularly useful.
Emu currently have four survey vessels and are closely involved with the assessment of sites for offshore wind farms, both in the UK and Europe. This new addition, which will eventually be renamed, entered service during August to undertake an ecological survey in the Eastern English Channel for an aggregate development, before moving onto oil and gas, and offshore wind projects in the North Sea.
The company’s operations director, Dr Huw Powell explained, ‘Emu is experiencing unprecedented demand for consultancy and survey services. Coupled with our recruitment programme, the new vessel will help us meet this demand. We recently doubled the size of our head office at Durley near Southampton and Emu now employs over 90 professional staff. Our plans for additional laboratories, offices, workshops and stores accommodation at a dockside location are well advanced.’
