Tight squeeze canal tow for cruise ship section

The sections are pre-fabricated modules for the new cruise ship Aidanova and need to be transferred from Neptun Werft in Rostock to Meyer Werft’s shipyard in Papenburg via the Kiel canal. Kotug’s Rotortug RT Pioneer was allocated for the tow with Bugsier’s Rotortug Bugsier 6 assisting as stern tug.

The 117m long three-deck high engine room section had a beam of 42m and with the locks just 40m wide a section of the side of the modules had to be removed for passage through the locks. Nautitec of Germany created simulations including calculations based on laser measurements of the locks and together with Bremer Schiffsmeldedienst produced charts for the locks at Kiel and Brunsbüttel.

Additional assistance came from Leer-based Lammers Schiffselektronic who installed a high-precision navigation system on the hull providing precise positioning data. Nautitec also prepared a risk assessment including for different weather scenarios. Georg Haase, managing director of Nautitec is reported as saying: “We touched nothing, and it was a really great success, because everything worked according to plan.” Adding: “It worked because we were a good team, but I am not the big guy here. I made the plan, but the tug drivers and the pilots, they do the big job. Everything was exactly as it was planned in the simulator.”

The engine room module will carry Aidanova’s four dual-fuel Caterpillar engines and a second similar module will be home to the cruise ship’s three LNG tanks. Module number two is also being built by Neptun Werft and due to be transferred to Papenburg in a similar manner. Such transports are expected to become regular events for Meyer Werft.

By Peter Barker