French complete fast tender for Germans
The first of four novel 19.6m monohull pilot tenders, which officials have said are particularly suited for local conditions, is now in test service in the Ems, Elbe and North Sea.
The 6.3m wide Frya, which draws 1.75m, was built for the Wasser und Schiffahrtsdirektion Nordwest (WSD-Nordwest) by the French Atlantic coast shipyard Bernard in Locmiquelic.
Bernard won an EU wide tender, unusual for a sector usually dominated by specialist north German and Dutch yards. WSD-Nordwest spokeswoman Eva Hülsmann explained to MJ that the French yard put in “the most economical bid, which was also the best overall”.
With a crew of two or three and carrying up to eight pilots, Frya is built of glass reinforced polyester and has a beak bow, which unlike a bulbous bow, is above the waterline. The WSD said the beak bow and a chined, duckbill shaped hull made the boat particularly stable and reduced roll and pitch as well as breaker spray.
The WSD-Nordwest already operates three SWATH boats and a helicopter pilot transfer service. Hülsmann said the new French monohull design ideally complemented the existing system. With a speed of 30 knots, the French boat was also “very fast and manoeuverable” compared to others and easier to use with low freeboard ships than SWATH tenders are, she said.
Providing the speed on Frya are two MTU 10 V 2000 M 72 main engines, each of 900 kW. No details of other equipment on the boat were given. The boat is a Bernard Type ORC P 190 and is being followed by Fresena at the end of the year. The final two boats will be delivered at four month intervals in 2012.
Frya is undergoing tests until the delivery of Fresena. German media reports said the vessel had already been into the Emder Werft und Dockbetriebe (EWD) for adjustments to the rudder and other plant.
By Tom Todd
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