TOWLINES April 2022
Spanish sea rescue agency Salvamento Marítimo has celebrated the keel-laying of its new deep sea rescue tug at Zamakona Yards in Spain.
It’s seldom that a 200tbp tug appears on the list of orders in these times and this as yet unnamed vessel comes at a cost of €52.5m and is due for delivery in October 2023, destined to become an important addition to the agency’s already extensive fleet of rescue tugs. An interesting feature of the newbuild will be its capability to operate drones in searches at sea, including a flight deck for drones up to 9m and a hanger with simultaneous capacity for two drones.
As part of what will be notable deliveries in 2022 Grandweld Shipyard has laid the keels for two of the four Robert Allan Ltd TRAktor 2700-Z tractor tugs to be operated by Kuwait Ports Authority.
The keel-laying ceremony was attended by representatives of the owner, shipyard and classification society BV and the tugs, due to enter service in August will have multipurpose capabilities including firefighting and oil spill response and deliver in excess of 50tbp via Caterpillar main engines and Kongsberg Z-drives in tractor configuration with DMT supplying a hydraulic single-drum towing winch. Typical high-quality accommodation will be provided for eight crew which along with galley and mess are above main deck level.
Together with Seychelles industrial and economic company UPCS, French tug builder Piriou Group is establishing a base in Mahé in the Seychelles.
The expansion strengthens Piriou’s position in the Indian Ocean following creation of Piriou Réunion in 2018 and involve workshops in Ile du Port in Seychelles Port Authority’s Marine Engineering Centre initially offering its floating ship maintenances to civilian and military shipowners.
Turkey’s Sanmar Shipyards has appointed three directors to “drive its green agenda” and lead the team with Sanmar’s low and no-emission tug construction programme.
The three directors, Tamer Geçkin, Hakan Tunç and Özer İlhan have practical experience in new and developing technologies including alternative fuels that will enable changes using their depth of knowledge “to help drive Sanmar’s ambitious plans forward.” The three new directors have been appointed from manager roles within Sanmar and coincides with Sanmar’s acquisition of a third custom-built shipyard which once operational will be optimised for construction of its new Robert Allan Ltd-designed ElectRA electric tug series.
