Brazilian owner starts building new escort tugs

Starnav completed its last tug newbuilding campaign in 2020 with delivery of Starnav Alpha, from Detroit shipyard. That was the eighth tug in an US$80M programme.

Starnav Alpha was operating in the Port of Rio Grande with 80 tonnes of bollard pull and a maximum speed of 12.5 knots.

The 32-m tug has a render-recovery escort winch on the bow and a FiFi1 external fire-fighting system.

Detroit shipyard covers more than 12,500 m². It has a 110-m long, 23-m beam drydock with 5,200 tons capacity and three crawler cranes, one weighing 450 tonnes and two weighin 250 tonnes.

In France, Merre Shipyard has secured an order to build seven new small tugs for the French Navy.

They will provide berthing and unberthing assistance for the navy’s surface ships and submarines at naval bases in France and in French overseas territories.

These 12-m vessels will be built with steel hulls and aluminium superstructure with accommodation for four crew.

Merre will build these tugs with bollard pull of 10 tonnes and maximum speeds of eight knots.

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