Sanmar Shipyards has won a US$33.46M contract from a Pakistan port authority to build six port service vessels in a year
Port Qasim Authority (PQA) in Pakistan has ordered four escort and harbour tugs and two pilot boats from the Turkish shipbuilder. The tugs are scheduled to be delivered within 12 months and the pilot boats in 10 months.
Sanmar said the contract was awarded following a hard-fought international tendering process. It put forward its advanced Kocacay range of powerful and efficient escort and harbour tugs based on the Robert Allan design, adapted for Sanmar’s 32-m escort tugboats.
All four tugs will be built to RAstar 3200SX design to handle LNG carriers that will be docking and unberthing at PQA’s terminal.
Kocacay-class tugs have a sponsoned hullform, proven to provide significantly enhanced escort towing performance. Escort forces are enhanced by the effects of the sponsons and the prominent foil-shaped escort skeg.
Sanmar will build high-powered, LNG-compatible tugs with a 13 m beam and 5.6 m hull depth. Three of these tugs will have bollard pulls of around 75 tonnes and the fourth will have a bollard pull of 85 tonnes. These tugs will have azimuth thrusters supplied by Kongsberg Marine.
Sanmar will also build two 20-m pilot transportation vessels with top speeds of 20 knots.
The contracts with PQA were signed at a ceremony at the Ministry of Maritime office in Islamabad, Pakistan on 29 March 2021. It was witnessed by the Federal Minister for Maritime Affairs Syed Ali Haider Zaidi and Turkish ambassador Ihsan Mustafa Yardakul.
Sanmar was represented by its commercial projects manager Ozge Abanuz and procurement manager Hakan Tunc.
In Turkey, Sanmar vice president Ali Gurun said this contract builds on its experience of constructing tugs for Pakistani operators. “However, this tender was one of the most challenging ones due to tough competition,” he said.
“Our designers Robert Allan and supplier Kongsberg Marine worked closely with Sanmar engineers to deliver the best performance solution for PQA,” Mr Gurun added.
These RAstar 3200SX escort tugs will be similar to two Sanmar built for Orkney Islands Council (OIC) in the UK last year. Odin of Scapa and Thor of Scapa were built to RINA class as part of a US$15.5M investment. These tugs were delivered to OIC’s Marine Services in mid-September 2020 to replace 30-year-old tugboats operating in Scapa Flow and the Flotta oil terminal. They are being used for ship-handling, towing, escort and emergency response duties.
Sanmar said they were purposely designed with a shallower draught than most other tugs of similar size to ensure greater operational flexibility even with the depth limitations in some of the piers within Scapa Flow.
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