Owners bolster fleets with newbuilding deliveries

In North America, owners expanded their fleets between March and July for barge towage on inland waterways as demand picks up after a slump during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Maritime Partners was one of the most active in taking new deliveries with John Bludworth Shipyard completing a six-towboat construction programme for them in May with delivery of Signet Volunteer.

This 25.6-m vessel is powered by Cummins QSK38 main engines compliant with Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Tier 3 emissions requirements. These turn four-blade Sound Propeller Services stainless steel propellers through Reintjes WAF 665 reverse reduction gear with internal shaft brakes supplied by Karl Senner.

Two other towboats in this order – Signet Freedom and Signet Puritan – are operated by Signet Maritime. The others in this order – Ouizee, Raymond Butler and G. Brooks Sperry are operated by Maritime Partners for third parties. John Bludworth is building two more 33.5-m towboats for Maritime Partners at its Corpus Christi, Texas, shipyard with deliveries scheduled for Q2 2021.

In Q2 2020, Maritime Partners also took delivery of the first of a series of new towboats ordered from C&C Marine and Repair’s shipyard in Belle Chasse, Louisiana. Paula M. Sperry is the first of what could become a 15-towboat construction campaign. This vessel will be leased to Centerline Logistics, which was rebranded from Harley Marine Services in February 2020.

Paula M. Sperry has an overall length of 25.6 m and breadth of 10.4 m. It was designed by Entech Design and C&C Marine’s engineering department. In the engineroom are two Cummins QSK38-M1 main engines paired with two Reintjes WAF 665 reduction gears.

L&L Marine started operating new towboat Amelia Ray in July. This is a 20-m twin-screw towboat built by Rodriguez Shipbuilding in Bayou La Batre, Alabama, to an Entech design.

It has a pair of inline six-cylinder Mitsubishi S6R2 engines that turn propellers through Twin Disc MGX5321 reduction gears.

One US shipyard passed a milestone in its history. Metal Shark’s shipyard in Bayou LaBatre, Alabama, completed its first steel inland towboat newbuilding in May. It delivered Stephanie Pasentine, a 36.5-m vessel, to owner Florida Marine Transporters. This is first of three towboats ordered and followed Metal Shark’s acquisition of financially strained Horizon Shipbuilding in 2018. Metal Shark is also building a 21-m steel Z-drive tugboat for North Carolina Department of Transportation.

Stephanie Pasentine has two Caterpillar-built Cat 3512C marine diesel engines, each delivering 1,500 kW of power at 1,600 rpm. These turn stainless steel propellers through Twin Disc model MGX5600DR reverse reduction gears.

Also in the US, Saint Lawrence Seaway Development Corp (SLSDC) brought into service a US$24M ice-handling tug, Seaway Guardian, after its mobilisation from Gulf Island Fabricators shipyard in Houma, Louisiana. This tug was built for buoy maintenance and ice management on the St Lawrence Seaway. It will also provide emergency response and assist with fire fighting.

SLSDC ordered this new tug as part of its asset renewal programme to maintain shipping in this vital maritime link to North America’s Great Lakes.

Seaway Guardian will replace 62-year-old Robinson Bay, which SLSDC said would be maintained as a back-up for the foreseeable future.

In Brazil, Starnav Serviços Maritimos has completed its latest tug newbuilding campaignwith delivery of Starnav Alpha, built at Detroit shipyard in Itajaí, Santa Catarina as the eighth tug in an US$80M programme.

Starnav Alpha is operating in the Port of Rio Grande with 80 tonnes of bollard pull and a maximum speed of 12.5 knots. This 32-m tug has a render-recovery escort winch on the bow and a FiFi1 external fire-fighting system.

Far East Russian expansion

In Russia, Rosmorport took delivery of four ice-class Arc4 azimuth stern drive (ASD) tugs in the seaport of Vladivostok in July. These were built by Damen Shipyards to ASD 3010 design and classification requirements of the Russian Maritime Register of Shipping.

Tugboats Emar, Sukhodol and Askold will work in Vladivostok port and Truzhenik is destined for Vanino port. Emar, Sukhodol and Truzhenik were built as 29.8-m tugs with beams of 10.4 m. They are equipped with two main engines of total power output of 3,840 kW, producing 56 tonnes of bollard pull. Askold is a smaller tug (26.5 m in length and 9.5 m in breadth) with two engines developing total power of 2,600 kW and delivering 40 tonnes of bollard pull.

Russia-headquartered project towage and heavy-lift specialist Beluga has acquired a new ice-class EuroTug from Neptune Marine. Beluga Bremen has an overall length of around 27 m and beam of about 10 m. It has a bollard pull of 40 tonnes and anchor handling winch with 100 tonnes capacity.

This EuroTug 2710 design tug was built to ice-class 1B standards for low-temperature operations. Neptune upgraded the tug before delivery with two moon pools and steel protection plates for its anchor handling operations.

Chinese deliveries

In China, Zhenjiang Shipyard in Jiangsu delivered three ASD tugs in July. This included two built for Guangxi Beibuwan on 8 July. Xin Bei Bu Wan 16 and 18 are 36-m ASD tugboats with 2,942 kW of power providing bollard pull ahead of 51 tonnes and bollard pull astern of 46.6 tonnes.

A more powerful tug was delivered to Zhenjiang Port Group Co on 15 July. Zhen Gang Tuo5001 is a 39.9-m ASD tugboat with the greatest horsepower in ports along Yangtze River, of3,824 kW. This delivers a speed of 14 knots, bollard pull ahead of 61.2 tonnes and bollard pull astern of 56.8 tonnes.

In Q2 2020, Zhenjiang Shipyard delivered an ASD tug to Zhoushan Xinya Shipyard Co. Xinya Towing 6 is a 37.5-m long ASD tug with 2,646 kW of power and 12.8 knots of speed. It has a breadth of 10 m, hull depth of 4.5 m, draught of 3.4 m and reverse drag force of 39.5 tonnes.

This shipyard also completed ship-handling and fire-fighting tug Tai Gang 3 and delivered it to Taizhou Gangsheng Shipping Co at the end of June. This is the first ASD tugboat to meet the requirements of China’s main engine exhaust standards (C1 and C2). These standards restrict compounds in engine exhaust emissions for domestic vessels in Chinese inland waterways, ports and coastal areas with carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, methane and particulate matter emissions capped.

Tai Gang 3 is a 36.55-m tug with breadth of 10.2 m and hull depth of 4.5 m. Its main engines have combined power of 3,236 kW providing a maximum speed of 13.7 knots, ahead bollard pull of 56 tonnes and astern bollard pull of 49 tonnes.