Equipment has been ordered to adapt multipurpose harbour tugs for oceangoing towage and ship escorting operations
Boluda France is expanding its oceangoing and project towage capabilities by ordering additional equipment for a series of multipurpose tug newbuildings under construction in southeast Asia.
The subsidiary of Boluda Corporación Marítima has a series of tugs on order from Piriou’s Vietnamese shipyard with the first tug set to be delivered before the end of Q2 2019. Up to eight tugs have been ordered for delivery during the next two years, of which six have confirmed delivery dates.
Le Havre-headquartered Boluda contracted Piriou to produce this series of newbuildings in March 2018 for harbour operations in France, ship escort operations, and coastal and deepsea towage. The first two tugs are due to be brought into service in June this year.
Piriou received confirmation for the third and fourth tugs of the newbuilding series in May 2018, with delivery expected before the end of this year. Boluda France confirmed it would need the fifth and sixth tugs in this series in January 2019 which should be ready for service in Q2 2020. Boluda France is expected to confirm the order for the final two tugs of this series later this year.
The multipurpose tugs in this series are being constructed to a Piriou design for an azimuthing stern drive tug with additional equipment for escort, fire safety and ship towage services. They are being built to Piriou’s Omni Stern Tug (OST) 30 design with an overall length of just over 30 m and bollard pull of around 77 tonnes.
The tugs will be outfitted with an aft sea towing winch and tugger winch for deepsea towage and a double-drum fore winch for escorting vessels across channels and into ports, with fire-fighting equipment to comply with FiFi1 class requirements.
These OST 30 tugs will have a top speed of 13 knots and combined propulsion power of 4,480 kW. They will be adapted to the owner’s and its customers’ requirements, said Boluda France general manager Denis Monserand.
“This new series will be built with increased power compared to the previous generation, to reach 77 tonnes of bollard pull,” he said. “This will allow our crews to service vessels of ever-increasing size in the best conditions.” Boluda France needed more powerful tugs to handle the larger container vessels and cruise ships calling at French ports.
Each tug will have two main medium-speed, four-stroke diesel engines, rated at 2,240 kW driving two aft azimuthing propellers. The engines will be fresh-water cooled with box cooler refrigerants.
The OST 30 tugs will have capacity to store 85 m3 of fuel oil and 16 m3 of fresh water, with a maximum draught of 5.3 m and 10.4 m breadth.
Their wheelhouses were designed for the ergonomics of a single-command control station. They will have high visibility over the entire working area and its surroundings to assist the master in manoeuvring these tugs and managing oceangoing and project towage, and ship escort operations.
OST 30 was designed to be maintained every five years with special hull antifouling and an impressed current antifouling system. Its accommodation is designed for six crew members and is in accordance with International Labour Organization 2006 requirements for comfort and noise reduction.
This eight-tug order came after delivery of two previous series of harbour tugs by Piriou. Boluda France brought eight tugs, each with bollard pulls of around 70-tonnes, into service in 2007 and 2009. Piriou then built another series of six tugs for Boluda France between 2015 and 2017. These were:
The above tugs have azimuthing propellers from Schottel and diesel engines supplied Anglo Belgium Corp.
In 2017, VB Volcan was deployed to the port of La Réunion in the Indian Ocean and VB Tornade commenced operations in the port of Le Havre. Both ports have seen increases in containerised traffic and needed more towage capacity to receive larger container ships.
Boluda France operates a fleet of 75 tugs and 30 service vessels in 15 harbours and terminals in France, around Africa and in the Indian Ocean. It offers piloting, mooring and offshore crew transfer as well as deepsea towage, which will be enhanced with the delivery of this new series of OST 30 tugs.
Piriou has developed a range of compact and versatile tug designs, ranging 24-32 m in length and providing bollard pulls of 30-95 tonnes.
Tugs for coastal towage and harbour operations include OST 24, OST 28, OST 30 and OST 32. It also has the OST 32E model with a nominal bollard pull of 95 tonnes for escort and terminal services.
Boluda France OST 30 particulars
Builder: Piriou
Type: Multipurpose/escort
Length, oa: 30.3 m
Breadth, moulded: 10.4 m
Deck depth: 4.45 m
Maximum draught: 5.3 m
Speed: 13 knots
Bollard pull: 77 tonnes
Engines: 2 x 2,240 kW
Propulsion: 2 x azimuth propellers
Accommodation: 6 crew
Fuel capacity: 85 m3
Fresh water capacity: 16 m3
Fire-fighting: FiFi1
Deepsea towage: Aft sea towing, tugger winches
Escort function: Double-drum fore winch
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