Italian owner adds ASD tug to domestic fleet

The Naples, Italy-headquartered group boosted its tug fleet to 20 vessels with a Bogacay-class newbuilding from Sanmar Marine in Turkey, introducing Galluzzo to its fleet in Naples to enhance its towage and ship-handling operations.

This 24.4-m tug has a beam of 11.25 m, which Sanmar vice president Ali Gurun said enabled the designers to provide more space on the vessel.

“The vessel is much more spacious than one would expect for a tug of this size,” he said. “Our team has managed to find more room.” This provides more crew accommodation facilities, complying with the Maritime Labour Convention 2016 requirements.

The floor area of the six-person accommodation was increased and all cabins have their own toilet and shower facilities. More facilities were installed on the main deck, such as a laundry and separate changing room.

Galluzzo is a new class of Bogacay tug with an azimuth stern drive (ASD) configuration that delivers bollard pull of around 75 tonnes. This Italian-flagged tug has a pair of Caterpillar 3516C main diesel engines, each developing 2,350 kW of power at 1,800 rpm driving two Kongsberg US 255 FP Z-drives with built-in slipping clutches.

Sanmar’s naval architects and engineers adapted a Robert Allan design for this tug. On the request of the owner, Sanmar installed a foldable mast with hydraulic controls in the wheelhouse for periods when the tug is operating close to ships’ flared bow.

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Galluzzo was also adapted for emergency response and pollution control with an external fire-fighting system to full FiFi1 notation. This uses a dedicated diesel engine to drive the fire pump, which ensures maximum vessel manoeuvrability when this tug is fighting fires.

Rimorchiatori Napoletani can also use Galluzzo for salvage operations as it has a dedicated rescue boat and a Heila launch/recovery crane that meets Italian rule requirements.

Rimorchiatori Napoletani operates 20 tugs and three offshore support vessels operated by Portosalvo. It is renewing its fleet to replace traditional single screw tugs with modern ASD tugs to be used in the ports of Bari, Gaeta, Naples and Taranto.