A Turkish shipbuilder has completed sea trials on the first two tugs in a new series of terminal and escort tugs.
Sanmar has revealed its Bigacay series of azimuthing stern drive (ASD) tugs, which are a larger and more powerful version of Robert Allan’s RAstar design series. They are designated as RAstar 2900 SX design tugs with 91 tonnes of bollard pull from a 29.4-m tug.
The first two of this series of tugs were built by Sanmar for Svitzer’s north African operations. They successfully completed sea trials off Turkey this month and will be mobilised to Morocco where they will form the nucleus of Svitzer’s fleet at the Tanger Med 2 terminal.
Svitzer Tanger and Svitzer Tetouan were built with a 13.3-m beam for escort and container ship handling.
They are both equipped with a pair of 2,700-kW MTU engines and Schottel SRP560 controllable pitch Rudderpropellers. These ASD tugs also have Ibercisa winches fore and aft and a Palfinger deck crane.
These first Bigacay class tugs will be united with Svitzer Chefchaouen and Svitzer Al Hoceima at the Tanger Med 2 terminal.
Svitzer ordered these tugs from Sanmar a year ago after it gained the contract to provide marine services for the Tanger Med 2 terminal.
Svitzer Tanger and Svitzer Tetouan particulars
Class: Bigacay
Owner: Svitzer
Builder: Sanmar
Operating: Morocco
Design: RAstar 2900 SX
Bollard pull: 91 tonnes
Length, oa: 29.4 m
Beam: 13.3 m
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