2019: a golden era in tug construction

Demand for towing ultra-large container ships in greener ports is dictating the pace of newbuild tug ordering.

Changes in towage capabilities are required to handle ever-increasing sizes of ships. And with IMO 2020 almost upon global shipping, there are obligations on ports to comply with the fight against air pollution. This is pushing tug owners to order new vessels and enabling shipyards to attract new business.

Global towage services need revolutionary change and there are encouraging signs that ports realise this. Such demand has brought forth a ‘golden era’ of tug construction for those builders able to cope.

Speculative construction of standard designs by leading designers, such as Robert Allan and Damen Group, is reaping a rich dividend of customers in resales.

During Q3 2019, 36 more tugs were added to the global orderbook lifting the backlog of orders to an impressive 328 units of more than 20 m in length.

Multiple tugs are required for the world’s largest vessels. Container ships larger than 23,500 TEU are entering into service with more orders recently placed. Such ships require a minimum of five tugs in attendance.

Some 30 very large ore carriers, of around 325,000 dwt, have been, or are poised to be ordered, against long-term contracts of affreightment from Brazil’s Vale. These require more powerful tugs to manoeuvre.

Changes in propulsion and environmental technology have also shaped newbuilding orders in 2019. Several tug owners have introduced vessels with propulsion complying with IMO Tier III and with Environmental Protection Agency Tier 4 in the US.

Other owners have opted for LNG dual-fuel machinery, such as PSA Marine with its PSA Aspen tug.

For smaller tugs, owners are considering hydrogen as an alternative fuel. Belgian owner Compagnie Maritime Belge (CMB) confirmed it will build several ultra-low emission harbour tugs for service in Belgian ports using hydrogen fuel.

It will be a cautious start but underlines the quest for economical means of conserving fuel and costs, while moving even further forward into the green era. Hydrotug will have ABC hydro/diesel engines that will produce 4,000 kW of power and will be employed in the Port of Antwerp.

Following closely upon this, construction group Cemex plans to order an inland waterways pusher tug for river Seine service in France. Cemex will build a 13-m tug at its own French shipyard of Chantiers de la Haute-Seine. Its propulsion system will incorporate hydrogen and batteries. Barges of up to 2,800 tonnes will be pushed/towed with building materials to 11 terminals on the Seine operated by the Cemex group. Other owners may follow suit after witnessing hydrogen-assisted power results.

Enhancing ship manoeuvring

Several ports are forced to overcome obstacles in relation to navigation and berthing requirements as ship sizes increase. Manoeuvrability is a key consideration when employing suitable tugs, and this has propelled some owners to order single tugs for specific port authorities.

These normally apply to smaller ports which have built new terminals to handle bigger ships as trade patterns constantly change. The orders are shared between direct ownership by the port or contract hire with purchase options.

Port of Napier in New Zealand’s Hawke’s Bay, North Island, needed more powerful tugs to serve the larger vessels entering the harbour. A new 350-m long wharf is due to open in Q4 2019 and Damen Shipyards was contacted to build a suitable tug. It is constructing azimuth tractor drive (ATD) tug of 2412 twin fin design. Kaweka is scheduled for delivery in November this year to complement two existing Voith tugs.

The port exploited the advantage of Damen’s build-for-stock policy with a short delivery span. This 24-m tug will offer 72 tonnes of bollard pull and will suit perfectly the tight berthing arrangements in the port. Napier Port is expected to return to Damen for at least one more tug.

Kaweka was built by Damen’s Song Cam shipyard in Vietnam, which is turning out multiple Damen azimuth stern drive (ASD) tugs for sale. During Q3, this shipyard secured another order from SAAM Towage to serve a new northern terminal in Veracruz, Mexico. Once again, the emphasis was placed on increased manoeuvrability and availability of the ASD 2813 model. SAAM Huasteca, with 85 tonnes of bollard pull, is due for delivery from Hai Phong in January 2020.

Dozens of tugs will be required in future as replacements for ageing and rapidly redundant units which are expensive to operate or cannot compete, costing some ports valuable business in attracting trade.

Owners are responding with newbuild orders. Two existing Svitzer tugs working in Scandinavia will be replaced by two new units recently ordered from Med Marine’s Eregli Shipyard, Turkey. These will be modern ice-handling vessels to a new design from Robert Allan’s TundRA 3000 series. This ASD duo will each offer 60 tonnes of bollard pull. Deliveries are stemmed for Q4 2020 and Q1 2021 to Svitzer.

In addition, Med Marine has signed new deals with Robert Allan for the RAmparts series of tugs built to the popular ASD concept. Med Marine now holds blueprints for 14 tug designs from 16-30 m in length.

Elsewhere in Turkey, Bogazici Shipyard received an order from Compagnie Maritime Chambon for a 50-tonne bollard pull tug for operations in New Caledonia. Sanmar has started constructing two terminal tugs for Ineos’ operations in Scotland and Gelibolu Gemi Insa gained a contract from a Turkish owner. Uzmar plans to build six tugboats and two pilot vessels for its own fleet and is building a 60-m multipurpose vessel for Kuwait Oil Co.

In Asia, Kanagawa Zosen in Japan secured orders for seven newbuilding harbour tugs for the Adani Group. These 495-gt tugs will support its terminal operations in India after their delivery in 2021.

This Japanese shipyard also secured contracts for two tugs from Fukushima Kisen and one tug from Kaisho Marine. In Indonesia, PT Patria Maritime Perkasa is building three towboats for Patria Maritime Lines’s transportation needs in South Kalimantan. In Malaysia, Forward Marine Enterprises is building three 271-gt tugs at its own shipyard.