Abu Dhabi Ports has ordered a new harbour tug to manoeuvre container ships in its enlarged Khalifa Port
The UAE group turned to Turkish tug builder Med Marine for an azimuth stern drive (ASD) tug to begin operations in Q4 2019.
This will be a MED-A2360 series tugboat with 60 tonnes of bollard pull, equipped for multiple ship-handling operations.
This 23-m tug was built to a Robert Allan design with a pair of Caterpillar-supplied main engines.
It was built to a RAmparts 2300-MM design at the Eregli Shipyard in Turkey with a 10.9-m beam, 4.4-m depth and two CAT 3512 main engines that each develop 1,765 kW at 1,800 rpm and two Caterpillar C4.4 generator sets that produce 86 kW of electrical power.
The main engines drive two Kongsberg US205 P20 fixed-pitch propulsors with 240-cm diameter propellers to give the tug a top speed of 12 knots.
It has a THR Marine-supplied towing winch on the fore deck and a Toimil T-10500M deck crane with a 10-tonne capacity and 8-m reach.
Abu Dhabi Ports owns, manages and operates 11 ports and terminals in the UAE. Its Abu Dhabi Marine Services (Safeen) operates a fleet of tugs in the UAE to support harbour operations.
In 2018, Safeen purchased tugs from Damen Albwardy, in Sharjah to support container ships using the expanded Khalifa Port and ships importing bauxite at the Al Taweelah smelter. These ASD 2411 tugboats came into service in Q1 2019.
Safeen is responsible for pilotage, mooring, vessel handing and towage at Abu Dhabi Ports with a fleet of 12 tugs.
A sister tug to the one purchased by Abu Dhabi Ports was delivered to SAAM to support its operations in Puerto Quetzal, Guatemala in July.
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