Turkey has become the European go-to place for small chemical/product carriers with Marineline coating. A perfect example is the series constructed at Eregli Shipyard, part of the Med Marine shipping group
Med Marine is a Turkish shipping group closely linked to the Hakim Sen family, and well known for tug and tanker design, shipbuilding and shipmanagement. The tanker ownership and management side grew out to the financial hardships suffered by the whole of the shipping industry in the Financial Crisis of 2007 and beyond. In this respect the shipbuilding sector of the Med Marine group, Eregli Shipyard and its associated companies, was hit hard by the withdrawal of bank financing to owners with tanker newbuildings on order at Eregli. Unable to complete delivery, the yard was facing closure. Rather than closing the yard, Med Marine choose to build out the tankers created a new team, YMN Tankers, to commercially manage the tanker fleet.
Today, the Med Marine group has nine small chemical / product tankers controlled through holding company, Sea Tankers, and commercially managed by YMN Tankers.
A series of three 8,500 dwt tankers have been delivered from the Atlas Shipyard. This group comprises a pair of chemical / product tankers, Med Tuncer and Med Pakize. A slightly shorter sister tanker, Med Emre was also launched this year.
The chemical / product tanker was designed by Admarin, a Turkish ship design and consultancy founded in 1978 by O. Altan Demirsoylu. Over 130 of the company’s chemical / product tanker designs have been produced, ranging in size from 1,500 dwt to 40,000 dwt. Admarin also designed and supplied the loading instrument.
YMN Tankers commercially managed each tanker immediately after delivery until they have been inspected by the Ship Inspection Report (SIRE) and Chemical Distribution Institute Inspections (CDI) are completed. Then the company opens the newbuilding for charter on the open market.
Med Tuncer is now on charter to Uni-Tankers of Denmark. The vessel is a single screw, double hull chemical / product carrier has 12 cargo tanks and two on-deck slop tanks and is capable of carrying large range of liquid cargoes, petroleum products and vegetable oils.
Cargo tank capacities:
Tanks 1 port and starboard = 814.25 m3
Tanks 2 port and starboard = 779.86 m3
Tanks 3 port and starboard = 783.43 m3
Tanks 4 port and starboard = 824.65 m3
Tanks 5 port and starboard = 695.72 m3
Tanks 6 port and starboard = 670.70 m3
Tanks slop port and starboard = 101.65 m3
Total = 9,268.53 m3
The cargo area is divided into the 12 cargo tanks by means of oil-tight corrugated transverse bulkheads and longitudinal bulkhead on the centreline. Marineline cargo tank coating has been applied to all cargo tanks. Each cargo tank has a Framo type SD 150 hydraulically driven, single stage, submerged deep-well pump with the capacity 350 m3 per hour. Additionally, two Framo hydraulically driven submerged deep-well pump, type SD 100s, are supplied for each slop tank with 100 m3 per hour.
Framo also supplied the portable cargo pump, the ballast pump and control system and the draft measuring gauge. The tanks are controlled by 14 stainless steel W&O cargo valves, allowing up to 14 cargo separations. The PV valves are supplied by BAY Valves of Denmark and the valves are controlled by a BESI Marine Systems of Germany remote control system.
Cargo control monitoring system is achieved by Scanjet of Sweden intelligent tank management systems , which also provides the fixed tank cleaning machinery, the portable tank cleaning machine, and the gas-freeing fan. There is also Nederman Norclean system for the cargo super-stripping system. This is a heavy duty compressed air powered unit that can collect various types of liquids both in different viscosities and flammable, over long lifting heights and horizontal lengths. A Gazcon (Atlas Copco) inert gas generator supplies the inert gas blanket with heat supplied from a Heatmaster thermal oil boiler. Scope of supply also includes a steam generator, fitted in the heat exchanger room, for production of free steam for cleaning cargo piping and tanks.
Ullage assessment, temperature verification and oil/water measuring are conducted by a Honeywell Tanksystem’s HERMetic portable gas tight liquid level gauge. Consilium of Sweden have supplied the gas detection equipment.
Med Tuncer is equipped with a Rivertrace Engineering (RTE) oil discharge monitor has a simulation operating mode to aid demonstration to the appropriate Port State Control (PSC) and has been designed to provide means of monitoring, recording and controlling the ballast discharge in accordance with the requirements of MEPC 108(49).
The main engine on all the sister ships is a Caterpillar / Maschinenbau Kiel GmbH (MaK) 8M32C type producing 4,000Kw at 600 rpm, which is fitted with a DEC exhaust catalytic converter. The fuel consumption is 177g / kWh at 85% output at 14 knots and the main engine is supplied fuel through Westphalia purifiers. With a heavy fuel oil tank of 501.01m3, Med Tuncer has a cruising range is approximately 5,000 nautical miles. The medium speed diesel is connected to the Atlas Copco compressors, which also supplied the air receivers and the air compressor for the cargo stripping system. The machinery space also contains a TeamTec incinerator to handle liquid and solid waste.
The propeller is supplied by ZF and is KH-1200-type propeller rated at 4,000 Kw at 600 rpm with the diameter of 4,500 mm. The propeller is of 4-bladed type, made of nickel-aluminium-bronze and controllable pitch type. Rolls Royce supplied the steering gear and Med Tuncer is also fitted with a Schottel bow thruster.
Auxiliary power is supplied by one AvK synchronous three phase reversible shaft generator rated at 1,499 kVA, and three auxiliary electric generators of 585 kW rated at 31.25 Kva at 1,800 rpm. There is also an emergency generator. These auxiliary generators are units based on MAN engine designs from Lindenberg-Anlagen GmbH. The exhaust gas boiler has been supplied by Heatmaster
The accommodation area is arranged for 17 personnel and one pilot. There are some single berth cabins available, and YMN Tankers remarks the accommodation is designed in such way to ensure good insulation, noise reduction and comfortable habitability to the crew.
Heinen & Hopman of the Netherlands have supplied the heating, ventilation and air-conditioning in the accommodation and Holland Marine the sewage system. This connect to the modular toilets provided by Ensar, a popular supplier of this sort of equipment to Turkish shipyards, if less known elsewhere.
Far better known is the Scandinavian manufacturer Alfa Laval, whose water generator is aided by an auxiliary fresh water pump supplied by Allweiler GmbH. Allweiller claims to be the oldest German pump manufacturer (founded in 1860) and has certainly made deep inroads into the Turkish shipbuilding market. There are several Allweiler pumps on Med Tuncer including the sewage pump, the sludge pumps, and bilge pumps. The German company also supplied the auxiliary air conditioning pump. In the machinery space Allweiler pumps are specified for the fuel transfer system and for the engine sea water cooling circuit. On the cargo side, Allweiler pumps are connected to the inert gas system to provide cooling.
The navigation lights and signalling equipment are supplied by Aqua Signal, a company that knows a thing or two about marine lighting. It was established in Bremen, Germany, in 1868 – before the advent of electric lighting.
On the bridge Japan Radio Company (JRC) is the main supplier of the navigation and tracking systems, including the radar, GPS receivers, Navtex, autopilot, echosounder, AIS , weatherfax, ECDIS, and voyage recorder. The Inmarsat F equipment also comes from JRC. Phonetec provides the bridge radios, ship-wide broadcast and hand-held systems, but is not exclusive when it comes to comms. The marine VHF is a an Icom unit, and standard VHF radios are from the Standard Horizon range. The electric weather information supply is backed up by bridge readings from the Walker anemometer. A magnetic compass from L&G takes the traditional position on the bridge. The ship automation system is supplied by Halvorsen, described as screen-based alarm and control system with a range of design and operational benefits. It displays an extensive overview of the vessel’s functions including alarm and monitoring system, pump control, valve control, tank sounding, and other integrations into the vessel’s systems.
The bridge is equipped with Wynn window wipers and was designed to have Ensar floating floor and walls for ease of access to communication and electronics cables. Cable producer Üntel Kablolari has supplied the marine standard cables from its portfolio of mining, aircraft and railway cables. The cables pass through bulkheads via transits produced by Swedish pipe and cable transit manufacturer, Roxtec. Roxtec transits are openable and have optional spare capacity to simplify upgrades throughout the lifetime of a vessel. It is notable that Roxtec has its own transit testing facility and shares how it conducts its safety tests so that others in the industry can learn and benefit from vital safety features.
On the deck, the anchor and chains are Yapas coupled to SEC mooring winch and windless. The safety equipment consists of a rescue boat and a freefall lifeboat from Euro Offshore, which is sitting on a davit built by Gürdesan.
Gürdesan is a well-known supplier of fabrications for Turkish-built ships and has also supplied the cargo crane for handling hoses, the provisions crane and the two gangways.
Med Tuncer has been built with a full range of safety and rescue equipment onboard including an Almar fire-fighting system is specified, alongside a local system in the engine room incorporating Allweiler emergency fire pump, fire and bilge pump and a foam fire pump.
The rescue set includes two sets of McMurdo radar-based emergency search and rescue transmitters (SART), which can be stored in the life-raft or carried onboard in the event that it is necessary to abandon ship. When the McMurdo S4 SART detects an incoming X-band radar pulse from another vessel or aircraft it automatically transmits a response signal, which appears on the vessel’s radar display as a series of 12 dots pointing to the carrier’s location. McMurdo also supply an E3 Auto-type Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon (EPIRB).
Overall, Med Tuncer has the safe formula that appeals the charterers of proven Marineline tank coating coupled with high quality Scandinavian cargo handling equipment in a reasonably-priced Turkish-built vessel.
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