A French owner has welcomed a new addition to its vessel handling fleet to move dredgers and complete other port work
France’s Department of Charente Maritime has started operating mini tug Le Fuma after it was built by Lecamus shipyard in La Rochelle and certified by Bureau Veritas.
Le Fuma replaces an older vessel, Dragon, and will handle vessels and dredgers in the Department of Charente ports. Le Fuma is also used for port work such as removing navigation hazards and repositioning aids in narrow marinas and harbours which is why Department of Charente required a small tug with a shallow draught of just 1.35 m.
Lecamus shipyard, which has more experience in ship repair, built Le Fuma with a steel hull of 8 m long, a 4.1 m beam, with an aluminium wheelhouse. According to Lecamus shipyard, Pierre Delion naval architects designed this pusher tug.
This vessel has a fully loaded displacement of around 14 tonnes. Its power comes from a single Cummins QSB 6.7 diesel engine, rated at 186 kW, driving a 75-cm propeller and a bow thruster for manoeuvring.
“It features a 240-kg thrust bow thruster, flap articulated saffron, and an electric valve trolling that offers smoothness and manoeuvrability,” said Lecamus shipyard.
This provides La Fuma with bollard pull of just 2.2 tonnes.
For lifting operations, this tugboat has two hydraulic capstans, each with a capacity of 1.5 tonnes, with one on the bow and another on the stern. It has an aft working area for carrying and maintaining equipment, lifting hazards from the harbour water and deploying divers.
Lecamus shipyard’s partners in the project included Delion Agency, AIS-Elec, SETA and Mécatlantic.
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