A Chinese shipyard has passed milestones delivering an LNG-fuelled tug and in a towboat construction project for COSCO
Jiangsu Zhenjiang Shipyard Group has completed its first dual-fuel tugboat to support a Chinese LNG importing port and delivered the ASD tug to Ningbo Zhoushan Port at the end of December 2019.
Yong Gang Xiao Tuo 60 is a 38-m long tug with a breadth of 13.5 m and hull depth of 5.8 m. Its two gas-fuel oil main engines provide 4,778 kW of power providing this tug with a top speed of 13.5 knots and bollard pull astern of 79 tonnes. It has endurance of 1,000 nautical miles under LNG mode.
Jiangsu Zhenjiang said Yong Gang Xiao Tuo 60 can exchange diesel oil for LNG with the rate of substitution reaching above 90%.
Under LNG mode, it can reduce emission of SOx and particulates by 98%, NOx by 85% and CO2 by 20%.
Also at the start of this year, Jiangsu Zhenjiang passed the halfway point in constructing a fleet of tugs for a Chinese Government-backed inland bulk transportation project, part of China’s Belt and Road strategy.
It is building tugboats for COSCO Shipping Bulk Transportation for the Guinea Al aluminium bauxite ore mining and transportation project.
On 10 January 2020, the Zhenjiang Shipyard launched the hull of the ninth of these workboats, Yick Tug 205. This came two days after the shipyard launched the eighth tugboat Yick Tug 204, and the seventh, Yick Tug 103, was launched on 31 December. The sixth pusher tug for this project, Yick Tug 102, was launched on 30 December.
These tugboats will be outfitted and commissioned during the next three to six months. The latest of the Guinea Al-project pusher tugs to be completed was Yick Tug 202, delivered to COSCO on 9 December 2019.
It has a length of 37 m, a width of 14.4 m and a hull depth of 5.1 m. It has a design draught of 3.7 m, a speed of 11.67 knots and a towing force of 42.1 tonnes.
The next delivery on this project is expected to be Yick Tug 203 later in Q1 2020.
On 26 December, Zhenjiang Shipyard delivered Bao Hang 6 tug to Liaoning Longyun Shunze. This 38-m ASD tug has a breadth of 10.8 m and depth of 5.15 m. Its diesel-electric engines have a combined power of 4,420 kW providing Bao Hang 6 with bollard pull of 72.8 tonnes ahead and 65.6 tonnes astern and a top speed of 13.5 knots, with endurance of 700 nautical miles.
Jiangsu Zhenjiang will be busy in H1 2020 as it launched an ASG tugboat for Taizhou Gangsheng and laid the keel for a 2,646 kW ASD tugboat for Zhoushan Xinya Repairing Co in December.
It also cut steel on six ASD tugs including two each for Zhoushan Port Haitong Tugboat Co, Zhoushan Gangxing Tugboat and Fujian Fuzhou Port Tug Co.
On 12 January, Zhenjiang Shipyard laid the keel for an ASD tug for Guangxi Port.
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