Delivery and order round-up

Starting with orders, of particular interest is that for a hybrid icebreaking tug from Spain’s Gondan Shipbuilders. The order is for the Swedish Port of Luleå and covers a Robert Allan Ltd TundRA 3600-H class tug where icebreaking along with a high bollard pull are prime requirements. The 26m, 100tbp vessel exceeds Finnish-Swedish ice class rules, capable of breaking 1m ice at a speed of three knots.

Its list of duties includes: ice management, escort, ship-assist, coastal towing, firefighting and nav aids servicing with the hybrid arrangement involving two main engines and shaft generators/motors along with batteries for energy storage providing operational flexibility, emissions reductions, reduced fuel costs and maintenance savings.

Products from Shipyard De Hoop in the Netherlands include inland cruise ships and offshore support vessels but a recent order from Caspian Offshore Construction will see it building six tugs, at least four of which, similar to the order above will be ice-classed for operation in northern Caspian waters off Kazakhstan. The four ice-class vessels will be 39tbp ASDs with a pushing capability, the remaining two shallow-draught harbour tugs of 30tbp.

We stay in the Netherlands for what is usually a regular stop at Damen Shipyards for an update of news. Two orders to report, the first certainly falls into the significant bracket and concerns four ASD 3212 tugs for Smit Lamnalco. The order, announced at Europort 2017 follows the awarding of two contracts for Smit Lamnalco in Australia and Oman.

Smit Lamnalco state the move is: ‘… in line with our mission to standardise our fleet and to provide high quality, reliable vessels, which is particularly important given the challenging environments our vessels will operate in’. Two of the four will head for the mining town of Weipa in Queensland, Australia to operate on a Rio Tinto project. The two for Oman will be operated by the joint venture company Bahwan Lamnalco Company, all four due for delivery by third quarter of 2018.

Two examples of what must be among Damen’s smallest products, the Stan Launch 804 have been ordered by Multraship subsidiaries Montis Mooring Boatservices BV and Verenigde Bootlieden BV. Line handlers, or boatmen as they are often called are just as an integral part of a port’s infrastructure as shiphandling tugs and their vessels require a towing capability handling heavy ropes and even assisting in handling vessels themselves.

These two new additions will join the boatmen services at Terneuzen in Zeeland province and include modifications to maximise their capabilities in the specialised terminal environment based on the operator’s experience. The standard bollard pull is increased from 1.4 to 3.2t through more than doubling the installed power to 182kW. An 11kW bow thruster is included along with Mampaey towing hooks, capstans and non-slip decks; the air draught is also reduced to less than 2.75m.

Turning now to Sanmar Shipyards, it is reported that three 70tbp versions of Robert Allan Ltd’s TRAktor 2500-SX to be known as the Delicay series are being built for stock. The SX series exclusive to Sanmar are designed with its marketing objectives, production efficiencies and standardisation aspirations in mind with many components identical to other Sanmar production models. This particular 25m design is available as either a tractor tug with aft working deck or as a Rotortug with forward and aft working decks.

NEWBUILDINGS
Staying with Sanmar we move onto newbuilds with delivery of two tugs, each the first of a matching pair to Italy and Abu Dhabi. Marechiaro (ex Sirapinar V) is a RAmparts 2400-SX for Rimorchiatori Napoletani providing 50tbp and in the middle of the 45 to 60tbp range planned for this model, via Caterpillar main engines and Schottel azimuthing Rudderpropellers. A second similar tug is destined for delivery to Spain.

Delivery number two concerns Yenicay VI, the first of a pair of Robert Allan designed tugs by Sanmar for Abu Dhabi Ports joining the fleet of SAFEEN (Abu Dhabi Marine Services) with vessel number two (Yenicay VII) due early in 2018. SAFEEN had already been operating a Yenicay class tug successfully for a year and this, together with short delivery time made what Sanmar call the choice of a similar tug a ‘no-brainer’.

Both ASD tugs are powered by Caterpillar main engines driving Veth azimuthing thrusters delivering a bollard pull of 33.7t and speed 12 knots. This particular class is specifically suited for smaller ports and an example of where modifications are often required for specific situations is where they have upgraded seawater and HVAC systems to match high ambient air and seawater conditions in the Middle East.

The last delivery to report sees us still in Turkey with Med Marine, another producer of Robert Allan Ltd tugs and the yard’s 12^th tug, Med Yarimca to Turkey’s Izmit Bay. The RAmparts 2500W ASD has an impressive 70tbp once again from Caterpillar main engines and in this example, Schottel SRP1515 azimuthing thrusters with variable-pitch propellers. The RINA-classed vessel meets FiFi1 notation with SEC Groningen supplying an anchor and towing winch forward and towing winch aft. MLC-compliant accommodation is provided for six persons in two single, and two double cabins.

Finally, an item of news which falls between ordering and delivery involves the recent keel-laying ceremony at Damen’s Sharjah Shipyard of an ASD 2913 tug for Saqr Ports, part of Rash Al Khaimah (RAK) Ports. Once the keel was lowered onto the building blocks by Captain Brand, group general manager RAK Ports both Captain Brand and Captain Magee, harbour master RAK Ports marked the occasion by breaking a coconut over the keel.

By Peter Barker