In the past three months, Chinese shipyards have started constructing several harbour tugs
These newbuildings come as tug owners in east and southeast Asia modernise their fleets and increase their towage capabilities to handle larger ships.
One of the most recent contract awards went to Jiangsu Wusi Suyang Shipyard to construct three tugboats for Vallianz Holdings Singapore. It has started building these ship assistance and escort tugs in Jiangsu Province, China.
At 680-gt, the tugs will each have overall length of 38.6 m and breadth of 13.6 m, according to BRL Shipping Consultants.
They will have shallow draught of 3.1 m and bollard pull of around 70 tonnes from a pair of Caterpillar 3516C main diesel engines on each tug. Each engine will develop 1,900 kW of power at medium speeds.
Jiangsu Suyang Marine is scheduled to complete the first of these tugs, to be named Rawabi Omega, in January 2022. This will be followed in March by Rawabi Alpha and then in May by Rawabi Diamond, according to BRL. Vallianz intends to operate these tugs in Singapore.
Elsewhere in China, Jiangsu Zhenjiang Shipyard has started building tugs for Chinese owners. On 7 May it laid the keel for a new azimuth stern drive (ASD) tugboat for an unnamed owner with 3,880 kW of power and a fire-fighting (FiFi) system.
Near the end of April, Zhenjiang Shipyard in Jiangsu Province started steel cutting on a 3,670-kW, ASD tug for Taixing Runtai Port Co. On 20 April, the first ASD tugboat in Q2 2021 was launched and lifted by crane from the drydock to the quayside for outfitting. This will be a 3,670-kW, ASD tug with a FiFi system for an unnamed owner.
At the end of March, Zhenjiang Shipyard laid the keel of two ASD tugs. One with 3,234 kW of power is for Jiangsu Sugang Shipping Engineering Co and the other 2,942-kW tug will be built for Yangjiang Port Yechang Tugboat Co.
On 13 March, Jiangsu Zhenjiang Shipyard started cutting steel on a 3,235-kW, ASD tug.
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