TOWLINES

The new compact tug

Union Amber

is undergoing extensive trials after completion by the Spanish yard Astilleros Armon. Union Amber is the first of four new vessels to be ordered by URS in Belgium

and

associates Fairplay Towage, it will be followed by

Union Jade, Fairplay I

and

Fairplay III

within the next few months.

Rolls-Royce has won a contract to supply the design

and

a full equipment package for a multi purpose coastguard vessel to be built by ASMAR in Chile for the government of Icel

and

. The value of the contract to Rolls-Royce is approximately NOK 80 million. Due for completion in 2009, the vessel will perform emergency towing, pollution prevention, oil recovery, fire fighting, st

and

by

and

rescue services

and

fishery protection duties. Developed from the UT 512 L design the tug will be 93.65m long, with Bergen main engines generating a total of 9,000kW (over 12,000 bhp) for a bollard pull of 100 tons

and

top speed of more than 19 knots.

Fairplay Towage of Hamburg has exp

and

ed its fleet by hiring the tug Michael of Johannsen & Sohn, of Lübeck on a long term bareboat charter. The tug has been renamed Fairplay XII, repainted in Fairplay livery

and

re-registered under the Antigua-Barbuda-flag. Fairplay XII will join the Fairplay Towage fleet in the Port of Rotterdam. Michael was built by Hitzler at Lauenburg in 1994

and

is a tug of 30m in length powered by Schottel propulsion units

and

Deutz SBA6M628 main engines for a bollard pull of 41 tons.

BY JACK GASTON