Main Iron Works and Master Boat Builders required escort winches for US tugs
New Jersey-headquartered JonRie Marine has landed a contract to supply a ship-handling and towage winch for a new vessel being built at Main Iron Works in Houma, Louisiana, for Bisso Towboat.
This azimuth stern drive (ASD) tug will have around 3,740 kW of power and 66 tonnes of bollard pull when it is delivered Q4 2023.
A JonRie Series 240 escort winch will be installed on the bow. JonRie worked with Bisso to develop these escort winches with a newly designed level wind. Its winches are on previous Bisso newbuilds including Capt Joseph Bisso, completed January 2022 by Main Iron Works.
The Series 240 winch includes JonRie’s foot pedal controls for hands-free operations, a render and recover feature and independent level wind, with a new compact Hägglunds motor by Bosch Rexroth, with a clutch-out feature.
The package includes a JonRie tension read-out system, scope indicator and an auto-abort system.
This ASD tug will have two Caterpillar-manufactured Cat 3516E main engines, complying with US Environmental Protection Agency Tier 4 emissions standards, each generating 1,870 kW of power at 1,600 rpm. These will drive two Kongsberg US205S azimuth thrusters with stainless steel propellers of 240-cm diameter in stainless steel nozzles.
The sixth ASD tractor tug constructed by Main Iron Works for Bisso in the past eight years, it will join Bisso’s 10 ASD tractor tugs working on the Mississippi River.
JonRie has supplied two sets of deck equipment for the latest tugboats being built for the US Navy. Modutech Marine Inc is building small yard tugs (YTL-815 class) at its shipyard in Tacoma, Washington state, to support the US Navy’s warships and boats.
On the bow is a JonRie Series 220 double-drum hawser winch complete with JonRie’s standard render block. On the stern are a JonRie Series 421 heavy-duty capstan with 50 tonnes of bollard capacity.
JonRie winches were also installed or ordered for several harbour and escort tugs being built by Master Boat Builders, including four tugs for Seabulk, at its shipyard in Coden, Alabama.
JonRie winches have an auto-abort function which switches to a 24-V backup system and pumps off the brakes.
The level winds on JonRie winches are used for spooling hawser during ship docking, which involves pulling back full on the rope with a force of many tonnes. When the level wind is in neutral, the motor can free wheel to allow the loads on the level wind carriage to move out of the line of force.
Also in the US, Markey Machinery will supply a DEPC-48 bow winch for ship towing for two new tugboats Moran Towing has ordered from Master Boat Builders. These will be built to naval architecture by Crowley Engineering Services for delivery in 2024.
Markey will also supply DEPCF-48-100 bow winches for tugboats Suderman & Young Towing Co and Bay Houston Towing ordered at the Coden, Alabama, shipbuilder in 2022.
Deck equipment contracts
Kongsberg Maritime signed a contract December 2022 with Med Marine to supply another series of deck winches for tugboats being building at its Eregli Shipyard in Turkey.
According to BRL Shipping Consultants, Med Marine ordered these escort tugs, hull numbers from 131 to 145, for delivery from Q3 2023 to September 2025, which will be built to MED A2885 design to escort and manoeuvre large container ships, tankers and gas carriers into ports.
Kongsberg will supply 16 shipsets of heavy-duty, escort towing winches, other deck machinery and the thruster propulsion. This order follows a contract signed earlier this year to supply winches for seven other harbour tugs built by Med Marine.
DMT Marine Equipment has signed a contract to deliver electric towing and anchor mooring winches, along with other deck fittings, to equip two tugboats built by Louisiana-based Conrad Shipyard. Equipment delivery is scheduled for mid-2023.
Since DMT entered the US market five years ago, it has increased its presence and delivered several electro-hydraulic winches for tug construction projects.
More than 20 projects were completed and over 120 pieces of equipment were produced and delivered to US customers in that time, including customised winches and those with electric and hydraulic control systems.
DMT partners with OBT International, a team of experts based in Louisiana, for winch servicing and client assistance.
In Turkey, DMT has supplied tugs Sanmar Shipyards is building for various owners, including two tugboats for Svitzer’s Caribbean operations. Deck equipment on board Svitzer Rivas and Svitzer Isabela includes a DMT TW-E250kN frequency controlled, electrically driven towing winch with a double drum, tension and length indication and the ability to keep a constant tension.
An electric-powered tug Sanmar is building for Norway’s Buksér og Berging will have a DMT TW-E250 kN fore winch, a Palfinger PK11001MC deck crane and Data Hidrolik will supply a DTH 50-120P tow hook and DTC 4000 EP-L rope reel.
Deck machinery on Sanmar-built Bigacay-class, escort and fire-fighting tugboat Mataquito II includes two DMT hydraulic towing winches, one on the fore deck and one of the aft, a DHC 5000 H40 capstan, a Palfinger 15500MA hydraulic, knuckle-boom type crane and a DZC 3300-2 HPI/P-20L anchor windlass.
DMT also supplied hydraulic single-drum, escort towing winches for the aft deck on a series of tugs Grandweld built in 2022 for operations in Shuwaikh Port, east of Kuwait City.
DMT provided a hydraulic anchor mooring windlass and winch at the bow. The escort towing winch is spooled with 600 m of high-performance synthetic towline. A Toimil Marine fully foldable telescopic crane with a 10-m outreach is fitted on the aft deck.
Winch motor technology
JonRie’s winches have Hägglunds drives to cope with the high horsepower and backwards pulls, which places a lot of energy back into the winch motor. The motors need to take extreme loads without blowing the drive apart. JonRie winches have motors from the Hägglunds Compact series CA, CB and CBm and CAb.
A single revolution of the drum could translate into 1,000 revolutions by the time the last gear is reached. But in a direct-drive system, one turn of the drum is just one turn of the Hägglunds motor, which is further protected by its low moment of inertia.
Hägglunds motors also provide control of winch tension and have a free-wheeling capability, which combined with a direct-drive system, enables compliance with class requirements for an abort or emergency release function, for rapid disconnection if one of the tethered vessels starts to sink. Hägglunds motors can run for 20-25 years with little need for maintenance if oil is filtered properly.
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