SAAM Towage is expanding its fleet in Ecuador with two more tugs to handle larger ships
The SAAM Group subsidiary required more tug capacity in Ecuador after picking up additional towage work in the nation. SAAM Towage welcomed the first of these two tugboats, SAAM Tarqui, on 26 January after its long voyage from Turkey. Another tug is scheduled to arrive from Mexico in Q2 2021.
SAAM Tarqui arrived in Guayaquil to join the Ecuadorian fleet after SAAM Towage purchased it from Turkish owner and builder Med Marine in Q4 2020. It set sail from Yalova, Turkey on 14 December and was sailed to Guayaquil by Transport and Offshore Services (TOS).
“Expanding the fleet is an effort undertaken by SAAM Towage as an investment in the competitiveness and excellence of the logistics chain and a commitment to the development of Ecuador’s foreign trade,” said SAAM group chief executive Marcario Valdés.
SAAM Towage country manager in Ecuador Juan Alfredo Illingworth noted, “SAAM Tarqui meets the safety standards for our operation in Ecuador.” He added, “it also offers design features like adequate power, shorter length, compact superstructure design and hull characteristics that make it optimal for operations in limited space, like those typical of transit and support operations in the Guayaquil area.”
SAAM Tarqui was built by Med Marine in 2016 as Efesan Port, a MED-A2575-class tug. It was constructed to a Robert Allan RAmparts 2500W design with 70 tonnes of bollard pull and a free sailing speed of 12 knots. Two Wärtsilä W9L20 engines each develop an output of 1,800 kW at 1,000 rpm and drive two Kongsberg US 205 CP azimuthing thrusters with controllable pitch 240-cm propellers.
In the engineroom are two FFS fire-fighting pumps which can deliver 2.710 m3/hr and two Perkins 4.4TW2GM gensets. These provide, combined, 168 kW of electrical power for vessel services, including the deck machinery. Machinery includes a DMT anchor towing winch on the fore deck, a DMT aft towing winch and a Mampaey quick-release, disc-type towing hook.
During its voyage from Turkey, SAAM Tarqui made a logistics stop in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain. The vessel then crossed the ocean to Curaçao, went through the Panama Canal and continued its course to Guayaquil. At the port, TOS turned the tug over to its new crew after meeting Ecuador’s Covid-19 protocols.
Representatives from Wärtsilä will train this new crew in operating and maintaining its engines.
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