A long haul home for ‘RT Peter’ – by Jack Gaston

RT Peter is the second of four harbour and coastal tugs of the new RT80-32 design ordered from Niigata Shipbuilding and Repair in Niigata, Japan, as part of Kotug´s comprehensive ongoing fleet expansion and renewal programme.

In order to avoid an unproductive delivery voyage from the Far East, with the tug running light, Kotug fixed a tow from Shanghi, China to Rotterdam with the hull of a new container feeder vessel, Flintercoral. The 141.6m ship was loaded with three inland waterways barges, also for delivery to the Netherlands.

The voyage of 14,000 nautical miles took the tug and tow around the Cape of Good Hope and included intermediate stops for fuel at Kaohsiung/Taiwan, Batam/Singapore, Walvis Bay in Namibia and at Nouadhibou, Mauretania. Crew changes took place at Singapore and Walvis Bay and the convoy was at sea for a total of 125 days.

RT Peter is a tug of 32m in length with a beam of 12m, propelled by three Caterpillar 3512C diesels producing a total of 7,200bhp to power three fully azimuthing Schottel SRP1215 propulsion units via TwinDisc 3000LD slipping clutches. This unique propulsion system gives the Rotor Tug RT80-32 exceptional manoeuvrability, a bollard pull of 85 tons and a free running speed of 13.5 knots.

With it tow safely delivered in Rotterdam, RT Peter left for Germany where, after some maintenance, the tug will be equipped to join the Kotug fleet and sister ship RT Rob in Bremerhaven. It replaces the tug Tumak, recently sold to the Dutch

operator Iskes Towage & Salvage of Ijmuiden. The latter is an Italian built azimuthing tractor tug of 3,200bhp and 45 tons bollard pull.

The first tug of the four tug series, RT Rob was delivered last year. Of the two remaining vessels, the RT Adriaan is on route to Europe and has reached Mauritius. The fourth tug, RT Eduard, has been chartered for use in Australia.