The keel has been laid in Rostock for the first of two unique, ground-breaking patrol boats for coastal and shallow water service with German Customs, writes Tom Todd.
The boats are being built inside just 18 months at German Baltic shipyard Tamsen Maritim in Rostock. Customs spokesman Andre Lenz in Bonn told Maritime Journal delivery was expected as early as Spring and Summer 2022.
The 22.91m long and 6.29m wide aluminium newbuilds are of a completely new type and have been designed and developed using 3D CAD by Tamsen Maritim and Oldenburg-based consultants HB Hunte Engineering. Tamsen Managing Director Christian Schmoll described them as state-of- the-art, both above and below deck and was reported optimistic that the design could result in further German government and federal state orders as well as work for foreign customers.
Schmoll said the new Customs patrol boats were “an important new step for the shipyard and a new benchmark” for Customs operations.
That referred to a planned newbuild draught of just 1.2m, enabling unique operations in coastal mudflats, shallow bay and lagoon areas of the German North Sea and Baltic. The ships, with crews of three to six, will also be capable of settling upright and safely on tidal mudflats when required. “The Customs has never had this kind of operational resource before”, declared Andre Lenz.
Lenz also told Maritime Journal that each boat would have two MAN D2862 LE 438 (V12) engines of 882kW driving two fixed propellers and providing 20 knots. The configuration will also include an unspecified four-stroke auxiliary diesel of 1500/rev/min and a 400/230V generator as well as a bow thruster plant with hydraulic drive, he said.
Tamsen said it had won the order over bids from several other German shipyards. Reports said up to four. But Customs would not elaborate on that. The value of the contract was also not revealed.
The boats are the first newbuilds for German Customs from Tamsen. However the yard did re-engine two ships for the service some ten years ago, replacing old MWM diesels on the 28.6m Hohwacht and Priwall with eco-friendly MTU engines.
Tamsen has since been in the news regularly for its repair, refurbishment and recently also class newbuilding work for the German sea rescue service DGzRS.
