Punchy newbuild in all-round Weser service

Ruediger Staats, a spokesman for owners bremenports told Maritime Journal succinctly after the new 16.76m long and 5.94m wide tug had undertaken its first operations: “I hear that our people are satisfied with the boat”.

That comment backed up earlier remarks about the Damen-built Type STAN 1606 tug by bremenports Managing Director Robert Howe. “Teething problems are not something we expect with the boat”, he said, a reference to it being part of an established series at the Dutch yard. Series production also meant it took only a few months to order and deliver and that cost had been kept “within bounds” at €1.5 million, he said.

Albatros is tackling a wide range of jobs. A main one is to guarantee water depths for busy container-handling facilities. Bremenports uses its own bucket dredgers, barges, seabed scourers and tugs and the new workboat was towing the bucket dredger Bremerhaven as well as re-deploying anchors and anchor cables.

It is also being used to recover lost fenders, transport port personnel and materials and assist at quays and in locks. In winter it will see service as an icebreaker.

Albatros draws 2.54m and carries a crew of two or three when deploying anchor equipment. It has two 447kW Caterpillar C 18 TA/B engines driving twin Kaplan 11 fixed-pitch propellers over Reintjes WAF series gearboxes. It also has a Caterpillar C2.2NA 230/400 20.3kVA genset. Speed is 11.2 knots and bollard pull is 16 tons.

The new boat replaces two older bremenports tugs built in the 1960s and 1950s – Stoer 1 and Hansa. Bremenports said neither boat was capable of the work now expected of modern multi-purpose tugs in the ports of Bremen/Bremerhaven, where 78.7 million tons were handled in 2013 and nearly 8,000 ships berthed.

The two old tugs were also no longer economically viable, Bremenports said. Due repairs to the hull of the Stoer 1 alone would have cost €350,000 while a general overhaul of its 800 hp engine would have added €60,000 to the bill. In addition the operation and maintenance of the two old boats would have cost the port about €160,000 a year.

The last boat to be added to the Bremenports work fleet before the Albatros was the 16.25m long and 4.5m wide workboat Moewe in July last year. Built at the Bolle Shipyard on the Elbe it is driven by a 173kW Volvo Penta Type D7A TA main engine. Her main job is the inspection, maintenance and repair of port facilities.

By Tom Todd