Delivery and order round-up

First of four selected deliveries involve Briggs Marine and Environmental stating it is “very satisfied” with the latest addition to its fleet, a 14m line-handling boat from Med Marine’s Ereğli Shipyard.

Designed by Tomay Ship Design the RINA-classed boat is powered by two Volvo Penta D13 engines driving 900mm propellers in fixed nozzles via ZF gearboxes; delivering 10tbp it will operate in the Humber Estuary for Briggs Marine.

Staying with workboats, Damen Shipyards Group recently delivered a Multi Cat 1908 and a Stan Tug 1907 to RAK Ports at the Ras Al Khaimah Cruise Terminal UAE. The first role for the Multi Cat, named Hobby was positioning over 50 pontoons for a New Year’s Eve firework display, thereafter it will be used for general port assistance duties including maintaining navigation buoys.

The Stan Tug, named Hawk, joins the fleet at Saqr Port servicing barges currently active at Stevin Rock Harbour. Both vessels will join eight other Damen-built tugs in the RAK Ports fleet ranging from eight to 80+ tonnes bollard pull including a Stan Tug 7 still going strong 43 years after delivery.

The final delivery to report is from the Far East and latest in a series of notable deliveries for Tianjin Port, the Robert Allan Ltd (RAL) custom designed ASD 35/50 tug Jin Gang Lun 33. Built by Shanghai Harbour Fuxing Shipping Service, this 34m, 51tbp ASD tug is third in a series, vessel number four due early this year. Jin Gang Lun 33 is particularly well-equipped with a Karmøy hawser winch forward and provision for external firefighting. Daihatsu provide main engines with Z-drive units from Kawasaki.

Turning to orders, a notable number are being recorded for tugs built to RAL designs. RAL has an exclusive designer agreement with Rotortug (KST) BV for the ART (Advanced Rotortug) and two upgraded ART 90-98US variants are part of a four-vessel order placed by Seacor subsidiary Seabulk Towing for construction at Alabama-based Master Boat Builders Inc.

Rotortugs were first introduced to the US market by Seabulk in 2017 and it is an indicator of its satisfaction with the design that two more have been selected to supplement its existing Rotortug fleet of three vessels.

The second pair of vessels are two RAL RApport 3000 tugs, ASD configured and equipped with hybrid diesel mechanical/electric motor propulsion with provision for future installation of batteries, marking Seabulk’s initial investment in hybrid power. They will operate alongside the company’s existing fleet in the Gulf of Mexico and along the US east coast.

Further success for RAL will see a new version of the RAscal 1800-Z tug (plus one option) for the US Navy from Modutech Marine Inc of Tacoma, Washington. The design is similar to the 10 tugs built by Sanmar in Turkey for owners in UAE, Turkey, Spain and New Zealand. The design will meet EPA Tier 4 standards and include extensive fendering for handling surface ships, submarines and barges. The arrangement shares commonality, minimising training hours with the Z-Tech 4500 tugs, of which the US Navy operate six with six more on order.

Success for a European propulsion supplier in the competitive Far East shipbuilding market comes with Schottel Group being selected to supply eight Rudderpropellers for four ASD tugs under construction at Cheoy Lee Shipyard Hong Kong for Tanzania Ports Authority.

Two types of thrusters are involved, three of the four vessels will each have a pair of Rudderpropellers type SRP 466 driven by 2,210kW diesel engines while the fourth will have a pair of SRP 430 thrusters powered by 1,620kW engines.

Finally, returning to Europe and Damen, at the time of writing EMS Offshore Services was due to take delivery of a Shoalbuster 2711. The latest in this popular design, the hull was already in stock and ready for final fitting out to the customer’s specification. Increasing the width by 2m compared with the Shoalbuster 2709 increases its capacity of both personnel and deck cargo space with enhanced stability allowing for a larger deck crane. We hope to take a closer look at this new design in a subsequent edition.

By Peter Barker