Year of the Pig will be the year to build green and intelligent tugs in China, forecasts editor Martyn Wingrove
Year of the Pig will be the year to build green and intelligent tugs in China, forecasts editor Martyn Wingrove
Xin Nian Kuai Le. Happy New Year. We have entered the Year of the Pig.
We have also entered a year of Chinese tug construction, which has increased in number and project complexity due to widespread fleet renewal requirements.
The zodiac year of the Earth Pig denotes a period good for investment, prosperity and creating your own luck.
It coincides with a time when Chinese port authorities and operators are set to enhance their ship handling operations and to improve the environmental performance of harbour vessels.
This is in reaction to the emission controls introduced along much of the coastline and inland waterways to encourage vessels to burn LNG or low-pollution fuels. This makes it a great time for building fleets of environmental tugs for domestic ports and export orders.
Orders for tugboats that comply with tightening emissions regulations are expected to accelerate, too.
Four leading tugbuilders in China – Jiangsu Zhenjiang Shipbuilding, Cheoy Lee Shipyards, PaxOcean Engineering and Sanlin Shipyard – are busy with orders for different markets.
Jiangsu Zhenjiang has launched a series of tugs for domestic owners during the Year of the Dog for delivery this year. Its latest project was Bingang Towing 8, an azimuth stern drive (ASD) tug delivered to Binzhou Port Group Co on 28 January.
This followed the launch of four ASD tugs in January, which will be delivered this year and include Jingang Lun 31 and Jingang Lun 32, which designer Robert Allan describes as “a unique pair of combined towing and pilotage vessels”. These will be outfitted for Tianjin Port, Bohai Bay, China.
Because of the pilotage operations they will perform, they are built with longer hulls, at 40 m, settting them apart from the 25-32 m normally required for a pure towing vessel .
But, more importantly for the future of Chinese tugbuilding, these two vessels will be the first to comply with China Classification Society (CCS) requirements for intelligent ship (i-Ship) notation.
Sanlin Shipyard is also building two ASD 35/50 tugs for Tianjin Port to the i-Ship notation. They will be equipped with intelligent navigation, intelligent engineroom, efficiency management and control centre systems to comply with CCS’s notation.
I am sure we will hear more about these i-Ship tugs in the near future, most likely just after their delivery, and that more of these intelligent tugs will be ordered during the Year of the Pig.
Another advancement coming this year will be dual-fuel tugs delivered by Chinese shipyards. The Zhenjiang Shipyard is outfitting its first dual-fuel ASD tugboat for future operator Ningbo Zhoushan Port. This vessel is based on a Robert Allan design RAstar 3800-DF and was launched at the end of December 2018 with Niigata 8L28AHX dual-fuel engines and LNG storage capacity of 55 m3.
More LNG-fuelled tugs will be built this year as Chinese terminals demand that dedicated tugboats use LNG fuel instead of diesel.
PaxOcean Engineering is also building LNG-powered harbour tugs at its facility in Zhuhai, China, but these are for export. Construction began on 23 November on two dual-fuel tugs for PSA Marine’s operations in Singapore.
Cheoy Lee Shipyards has a strong orderbook of tugs for export. Its latest delivery Hinewai was delivered to PrimePort Timaru in New Zealand in January 2019. Cheoy Lee built tugs in the Year of the Dog for PSA Marine, SAAM Smit Towage Canada, South China Towing and Kenya Port Authority.
These deliveries demonstrate the variety of markets Chinese shipyards are producing tugs for and the greater levels of complexity in building and outfitting they are tackling. We can expect many more of these intelligent and gas-fuelled tug newbuilding projects at Chinese shipyards.
There will be regulatory drives, both Chinese and from other Asian nations, as the shipping industry and port states look to improve environments around harbours and reduce emissions leading to a demand for green tugs built in Chinese shipyards. So as the spring festival concludes and work recommences during the Year of the Pig, now is the time to invest in dual-fuelled and intelligent tugboats for a prosperous and greener future.
Chun Jie Kuai Le, Happy Spring Festival, to you all and welcome to the Year of the Tug.
© 2023 Riviera Maritime Media Ltd.