Kotug Canada Inc has applied a non-toxic noise reduction coating to one of its tugs that is intended to reduce vibration and underwater noise that can disturb marine life.
Tug owners’ endeavours to present a greener image is now well established in their business plans. Such measures typically come in the form of reducing toxic emissions from their engines, for example via alternative fuels or after-treatment of gases post combustion.
Environmental effects are not restricted to above the waterline, however.
Underwater radiated noise from ships’ hulls is known to disturb marine life, and with the area of operation of one vessel in mind Kotug Canada, a partnership between Kotug International and Horizon Maritime Services, has worked extensively with Dartmouth, Canada-based Graphite Innovation and Technologies (GIT) to make the graphene-based sustainable marine coating XGIT-URN to reduce underwater radiated noise and vibrations.
The AHTS (anchor-handling tug supply vessel) K.J. Gardner is the first of three vessels to use GIT applications to support Kotug Canada’s quest to reduce environmental impacts on aquatic life, including the endangered Southern Resident Killer Whales in the Salish Sea and adjacent waters where the vessels will operate.
K.J. Gardner also received GIT’s XGIT-FUEL and XGIT-PROP coatings aimed at further reducing the impact while improving fuel efficiency and “significantly reducing CO2 emissions over a five-year period”.
Steve Widmeyer, director, Kotug Canada said: “This is a major step forward in strengthening our focus on being a sustainable company. We have set a high standard to meet these goals by using GIT’s XGIT-URN coating, which significantly impacts meeting those targets.”
Late in 2021, Kotug Canada announced the winning of a contract with Trans Mountain, operator of Canada’s only pipeline servicing the country’s west coast, to provide two 110tbp escort tugs. Under a separate agreement with Western Canada Marine Response Corporation, it agreed to provide a 207tbp support vessel for Salish Sea/Haro Strait and Juan de Fuca Strait, capable of oil spill response and vessel towing.
K.J. Gardner is a Havyard 842 design AHTS completed in Norway in 2009 (the hull built in Turkey) as Stril Commander for Norwegian owners. Its career includes being managed by Secunda Canada before being renamed K.J. Gardner for Kotug/Horizon in 2021.
At the time of writing it was operating in the North Sea.
