An order for 20 tugs has been placed by French naval authorities in preparation for the delivery of new defence ships
French Directorate General of Armaments (DGA) has contracted shipbuilder Piriou to build 15 port tugs and five coastal towage tugs. These will be deployed for manoeuvring and docking new and existing French Navy ships and submarines.
This order is part of France’s strategy for modernising and rationalising the port resources of all its naval bases by 2025.
Chantiers Piriou will build the 20 tugs at its shipyard in Concarneau and deliver four tugs per year between 2021 and 2027.
It will build 15 tugs of RP30 (Remorqueurs Portuaires)-class for docking naval ships and five RPC30 (Remorqueurs Portuaires Côtiers) tugs for coastal and port towage.
These will have an overall length of 26 m, breadth of 9 m and towage power of 35 tonnes. They will replace 22 tugs including RP12 class vessels with 12 tonnes of traction power and coastal tugs with 26 tonnes of bollard pull.
The RP30 and RPC30 tugs will be adapted to handle new French Navy ships. They will have narrow gangways to allow flank manoeuvres of ships with V-shaped hulls and fendering below the waterline for handling submarines.
Piriou said the first two tugs will be delivered in May-June 2022 and will be deployed at French Navy bases in Toulon and Brest.
In total, there will be seven RP and one RPC in Toulon, six RP tugs and one RPC in Brest, two RP and one RPC in Cherbourg, plus one RPC in each of Fort-de-France (in Martinique) and Papeete, (in French Polynesia).
These 20 new tugs will work alongside 29 tugboats of 10-tonne class and seven 6-tonne class tugboats currently under construction by the Merre and CMM and Glehen shipyards.
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