Turkish shipyards maintain tug-building leadership

Turkish shipyards have made waves this year with new deliveries that redefine tug technology and new orders from a lively market.

Sanmar passed a milestone with its 200th tug built to a Robert Allan design. This Boğaçay XXXVIII harbour tug also has energy-saving propulsion systems. Built to RAmparts 2400-SX design, it has a hydro-mechanical hybrid propulsion system, giving it 70 tonnes of bollard pull. Integrated Caterpillar engines, thrusters and hybrid systems reduce the load on the main diesels and increase power for towage operations.

During Q1 2020, Sanmar also delivered harbour tug Italia to Rimorchiatori Riuniti and continued constructing two escort tugs for Orkney Islands Council (OIC), Scotland.

The first of these OIC tugs, Odin of Scapa, is undergoing sea trials in April before being mobilised to the northern Scottish islands during a three-week voyage in May. A second tug, Thor of Scapa, is scheduled for delivery in Q3 2020.

These are RAstar 3200 design, 32-m tugs with bollard pulls of around 70-80 tonnes. They are adapted to operate in Scapa Flow and alongside Scapa Pier, Orkney.

Uzmar has been filling its orderbook with new tug constructions. It confirmed an order by an unnamed owner for up to four harbour tugs in March. These were on top of an order from SAAM Towage for two escort tugs to support a new LNG terminal in El Salvador.

For this contract, Uzmar is building 32-m azimuth stern drive tugs to a Robert Allan design and Bureau Veritas class to support gas carriers on the Energía del Pacífico (EDP) project

These will be built to RAstar 3200W design with 75 tonnes of bollard pull, with a top speed of more than 12 knots. They will have Caterpillar main diesel engines and thrusters supplied by Kongsberg.

Med Marine completed tugs for a Turkish port group and for a Mexican owner in Q1 2020. It supplied Asyaport Degirmenalti, a 23-m ASD tug with around 60 tonnes of bollard pull to Asyaport, a joint venture between MSC’s Global Terminal Limited and the Turkish Soyuer family. Asyaport handles up to 2.5M TEU of containers per year and plans to become Turkey’s first transhipment port in Barbaros, Tekirdağ.

Asyaport Degirmenalti is a MED-A2360 series tugboat, built to a RAmparts 2300-MM design. It has two Caterpillar Cat 3512C diesel engines and Kongsberg US205 FP azimuth thrusters. Asyaport managing director Kadir Uzun says this purchase opens new co-operation with Med Marine. “We can achieve more in future thanks to this partnership,” he adds.

Med Marine mobilised a harbour tug to Mexico to begin operations in Snekke’s fledgling fleet.

Med Yarimca was renamed RPM Manzanillo and started operating in the Port of Manzanillo, increasing Snekke’s fleet to three tugs. This is a MED-A2575 series tug, built to a RAmparts 2500W design with 70 tonnes of bollard pull. This 25-m tug has two Caterpillar 3516 C engines and two Schottel SRP460 drives with controllable pitch propellers.

Schottel is supplying Rudderpropellers to two escort tugs Med Marine is building for delivery in Q4 2020. These tugs will have bollard pull of about 75 tonnes and a free running speed of around 12.5 knots.

Med Marine is also building two ice-breaking tugs for Svitzer’s Scandinavian operations using Robert Allan TundRA 3000 design for operating in extreme winter conditions.

The 30-m tugs will have overall power of around 3,900 kW and bollard pulls of more than 60 tonnes.

TOR Group of companies’ shipyard near Istanbul built three harbour and emergency response tugs for Ghana Ports & Harbours Authority (GPHA) during 2019. Ben Owusu-Mensah joined sister tugs Josephine Asante and Commander KT Dovlo for towage services in Ghanaian ports.

These 32.8-m tugs were built to RAstar 3300 design and Bureau Veritas class with bollard pulls of around 82 tonnes and speeds of more than 14 knots. These each have two Cummins QSK95-M engines and QSB7 gensets, plus two Kongsberg US255S P30 fixed-pitch Z-drives.

Bogazici Denizcilik is building a 50-tonne bollard pull tug for Compagnie Maritime Chambon for ship handling in New Caledonia. This is due to be delivered in Q3 2020. Bogazici will transfer construction to a new shipyard in Q2 2020. This will have 172-m long, 30-m wide and 30-m high indoor construction hall with four overhead cranes, plus 33,000 m2 of yard space, a slipway and a floating dock.

RMK Marine Shipyard has delivered two harbour tugs to Tupras subsidiary Ditas. These tugs, T Damla 8 and T Damla 9 are ABS classed with 70 tonnes of bollard pull, overall length of 25.5 m and beam of 11.8 m.