Terminal tugs delivered for Australian export project

Smit Lamnalco has taken delivery of two azimuth stern drive (ASD) tugs for handling ships at a terminal in Australia.

Damen Shipyards handed over SL Thunggun and SL Irrong to the tug owner and both vessels have been mobilised to Darwin, Australia.

These are ASD 3212 design tugs, each with a bollard pull of 80 tonnes. They were built to operate at the Weipa bauxite mine and terminal on the Cape York Peninsula, Queensland.

This mining complex is operated by Rio Tinto and exports around 30M tonnes of bauxite each year. New infrastructure is being built to support a third mine, including a processing plant and a second terminal. This is part of the Amrun mine project, scheduled for completion in 2019.

SL Thunggun and SL Irrong were finished to meet Australian standards including AS 3000 electrical compliance and are certified as asbestos free. They will handle and help berth very large bulk carriers that load bauxite from the mine complex.

Damen will provide a comprehensive support package to ensure maximum reliability of these tugs, which are being kept on offshore moorings in a remote location near the mine terminal.

In July, Damen delivered two ASD 3212 tugs to Smit Lamnalco to assist ships berthing and unberthing at a fertiliser terminal in Oman. SL Murjan and SL Lulu are owned and operated by the joint venture Bahwan Lamnalco Co.

All four tugs were ordered from Damen Shipyards by Smit Lamnalco in November 2017.

Smit Lamnalco is a long-standing client of Damen, with nearly 60 Damen vessels in its fleet.

Damen has previously supplied other tugs to support Rio Tinto terminals in Australia, including ASD 3111 design tugs in Dampier, a Stan Tug 2207 at Cape Cuvier, Western Australia and three additional ASD 3111 tugs at Dalrymple Bay coal terminal, Queensland.