After many months of rumour and speculation, the German deepsea tug Oceanic has finally been sold by Bugsier Reederi und Bergungs GmbH & Co KG of Hamburg.
A deal was finally agreed on 1 July with the Kardeniz Holding Group based in Turkey and the vessel subsequently left the Fishing Harbour in Bemerhaven where it had been laid up since 2011. It is understood that the tug has been renamed Osman Khan and will sail under the Liberian flag.
When Oceanic was built in 1969, along with her sistership Arctic, she was the most powerful tug in the world and flagship of a formidable fleet of tugs operating at sea on salvage duty and long range towing. Both tugs were built by Schichau at Bremerhaven. With a length of almost 90m and beam of 14.35m they were given the sleek appearance that became the hallmark of several smaller and less powerful oceangoing vessels in the Bugsier fleet in subsequent years.Your correspondent was invited aboard Oceanic for a memorable visit in 1969 when she came to London on display to the shipping industry.
Oceanic was fitted with a twin screw propulsion system powered by Deutz main engines developing a total of 17,500 hp, giving the tug a bollard pull of 150 tonnes. In order to remain competitive in the towage market, Bugsier decided in 1985 to re-engine Oceanic and Arctic with Deutz 12M640 main engines, uprating the power available to 20,000 hp and the bollard pull to 180 tonnes, with a top speed of 17.5 knots..
An important feature of this impressive vessel is the installation of two independent ‘friction winches’, each equipped with a storage drum carrying a 1,800m of 68mm steel wire towline.
Winches of that type are rarely fitted in modern tugs due to their relative complexity but those aboard Oceanic are said to be in excellent working order and have required very little attention.
During its working life Oceanic was involved in a number of important salvage operations and deepsea tows but In common with many deep sea tugs of its type the vessel became increasingly difficult to employ.The main reason was a total lack of anchorhandling capability and no possibility of suitable modification.
However, in 1996 the tug was chartered by the Federal Government of Germany to become the country’s first Emergency Towing Vessel (ETV). In that role Oceanic was stationed in Helgoland and latterly Norderney, patrolling and going to the assistance of any vessel in trouble or likely to cause pollution to the German coastline. Oceanic continued in the ETV role until January 2011 when it was replaced by the purpose built ETV Nordic and laid up in Bremerhaven.
The purchasing Kardeniz Holding Group is deeply involved in providing floating power plants, ‘Powerships’, around Turkey and other locations where electrical power is urgently needed. It is understood from Bugsier that Osman Khan will be used for a short time to carry out tows in the Middle East prior to being converted into a ‘super yacht’ for the owners use. Thanks to their sleek, attractive configuration a number of former Bugsier tugs are still at sea as attractive vessels of that type.
