MCS orders newbuild tugboat to support offshore renewables

Maritime Craft Services (Clyde) Ltd (MCS) has purchased a newbuild multipurpose workboat from a major shipbuilder in response to increasing demand for assisting dredging and cable laying.

MCS signed a contract during the Seawork 2024 event in Southampton, UK in June for a Damen designed and built Shoalbuster for rapid delivery in Q3 2024.

This vessel, to be named Heather 2, is being built to Damen’s Shoalbuster 2711 design with a maximum draught of 3 m for shallow-water operations, an overall length of 27 m, a beam of around 10 m and a depth of 4 m.

These 321-gt Shoalbusters have a bollard pull of 41 tonnes, a top speed of 11 knots, a deck area of 75 m², accommodation for seven crew, and fuel oil capacity of 125 m³. The optimised deck layout has a low freeboard for easy access to the water.

For MCS, Damen will fit an AKC 185 deck crane, a waterfall winch and a Damen Marine NOx reduction system to ensure Heather 2 is certified to IMO Tier III emissions standards.

This Shoalbuster 2711 would be ready to support dredging, cable laying and other windfarm support operations.

Fairlie, Scotland-headquartered MCS, owned by the Kuyt family, operates a fleet of 18 workboats, mainly in western Europe and the Middle East.

Heather 2 will be the company’s third Shoalbuster and will join 11 fast crew suppliers and multi cats built by Damen in this fleet, the latest addition being a Damen Multi Cat 2712 purchased in November 2023.