New tugs for the South African Navy

The tugs are to be built at the Damen Shipyard, Cape Town, part of the Dutch shipbuilding Group, to the Damen ATD Tug 2909 design, with more than half of the materials and equipment sourced locally. Procurement of the new tugs is being executed under the project name Canter.

This version of the Damen ATD Tug 2909 is based on an Azimuthing Tractor Drive (ATD) design first built for use by Serco, the providers of towage and marine services to the British Royal Navy. The tugs will be equipped for towing, mooring and fire-fighting duties and will comply with the requirements of the South African Maritime Safety Authority (SAMSA) class VIII.

Virtually identical vessels, they will have a length of 28.7m overall, with a beam of 9.9m and draft of 4.8m and a predicted displacement of 370 tonnes. The propulsion system will comprise two Caterpillar 3512B TA HD main engines developing a total of approximately 3,000bkW (4,000 bhp) to drive a pair of Rolls-Royce US 205 CP fully azimuthing propulsion units incorporating controllable pitch propellers. That propulsion system will give the new tugs a bollard pull of at least 40 tonnes and extremely good manoeuvrability and agility.

The new ATD tugs, the first of which is scheduled for delivery in 16 months and the second 8 months later, will replace the existing tugs De Noord and De Mist, conventional screw vessels 51 and 39 years old respectively. Once in service the tugs will operate mainly in the confines of Simon’s Town naval base and the surrounding area. However, provision will be made onboard to accommodate up to 8 persons to enable the vessels to carry out coastal operations and give assistance elsewhere if required.

When completed the two new vessels will join the tug Umalusi, a 30m Caterpillar engined tug built in 1995 and purchased in 1997, to carry out the majority of shiphandling tasks. The ships requiring assistance in Simon’s Town are frigates, submarines, mine counter-measures vessels, the supply ship SAS Drakensberg, hydrographic ship SAS Protea, in addition to other naval vessels calling in at the home port of the South African Navy.