Seacontractors has conducted multiple oceangoing and emergency tows, Tug Malta is getting a new escort tug and Moran Towing has completed projects in the US
Seacontractors has conducted multiple oceangoing and emergency tows, Tug Malta is getting a new escort tug and Moran Towing has completed projects in the US
Tug operators in Europe and North America have performed oceangoing and project towage in Q1 2019 in response to demand for long distance mobilisations, maritime emergencies and redeploying marine assets.
Seacontractors has built up experience for oceangoing towage by mobilising barges, tankers and multipurpose vessels around Europe and the Middle East. When it acquired an anchor handling tug on the secondhand market this year, Seacontractors picked up another towage contract.
The Dutch owner purchased 2001-built Diamond as the first azimuth stern drive (ASD) tug in its fleet. It was previously owned by Boskalis, which upgraded the vessel to an anchor handling tug in 2010.
Its first employment for Seacontractors was to tow a barge from Rotterdam, in the Netherlands, to Bahrain in the Middle East Gulf. According to Seacontractors manager for towage and offshore, Lisa Kuiper, the towage project started immediately after the purchase, so there was no time to rename or repaint Diamond to the company’s house style.
“When this tug arrives in Bahrain, we will change its name to Sea Diamond and it will fly the Dutch flag,” she told Tug Technology & Business. “If there’s some time left we will also change the colour.” Diamond has an overall length of 35.7 m and a maximum draught of 5.2 m. It has a full running speed of 12 knots and bollard pull of 74 tonnes. This comes from a pair of ABC 8 MDZC diesel engines that power two ASD propellers, each with a power capacity of 1,850 kW.
“This well-equipped anchor handling tug is a great addition to the existing fleet,” said Ms Kuiper. The addition enables Seacontractors to satisfy the specific needs of the maritime industry by offering specialised services. Once it has arrived in Bahrain, it will be mobilised to Kuwait, where it will support two other vessels on the Al Zour refinery project. “Sea Beluga and Sea Buffalo have been working in Kuwait on the Al Zour project since May 2018,” said Ms Kuiper.
Seacontractors has operated in more than 25 countries across five continents. It operates a fleet of 20 anchor handling tugs and multipurpose vessels in a bollard pull range of 20-85 tonnes, and “with a focus on shallow draught operations,” she explained. “As a well-respected and reliable maritime service provider, we operate a fleet of modern vessels, well equipped for worldwide operations.”
“The quality and variety of vessels available to us, combined with the highly experienced crew, gives us the ability and flexibility to handle even the most complex project,” said Ms Kuiper. “In recent years, Seacontractors has worked in challenging and remote areas where the importance of local content requirements in projects and contracts is increasing.”
“The quality and variety of vessels available to us, combined with the highly experienced crew, gives us the ability and flexibility to handle even the most complex project”
One recent long-distance towage job involved manoeuvring a new inland tanker from Romania to the Netherlands. Seacontractors’ anchor handling tug Sea Bravo towed newbuild Casco tanker Milano from Constanta to Rotterdam, where it arrived in January.
In Q3 2018, a Seacontractors’ Damen Shipyards-built stan tug was involved in long-distance towage and salvage. 2015-delivered Atlantis conducted three back-to-back emergency tows in just six days. On 29 September, Atlantis had completed a tow for BP to St Petersburg, Russia, and was returning to Lubmin, Germany, to collect another towed cargo bound for Hull, in the UK.
However, its plans changed in reaction to a stricken general cargo vessel. Atlantis was diverted to assist Amadeus, which suffered engine failure while en route from Vejle, in Denmark, to Vaasa, Finland, with 1,200 tonnes of steel sheets on board. Amadeus was towed by Atlantis to Klaipeda, Lithuania, on 2 October.
Atlantis was then rediverted to assist roro ferry Regina Seaways, which was stranded by an engineroom fire with 335 people on board while sailing from Kiel, Germany, to Klaipeda. When Atlantis reached Regina Seaways, the ferry’s crew had suppressed the fire and restarted one of its engines. Atlantis acted as an escort tug as the ferry made its way to Klaipeda and entered the harbour under its own power.
At this point, Atlantis was requested to assist container carrier Iduna, which had suffered engine failure in adverse weather conditions. Atlantis remained on standby, then connected its towline to the container ship and towed Iduna into Klaipeda. It was then able to sail to Lubmin to pick up its next scheduled tow and delivered that to Hull. Following this, Atlantis sailed to Rotterdam to collect a double unit to tow it to Fos-sur-Mer in the Mediterranean.
New tug launched
Med Marine launched an escort vessel for Tug Malta in Turkey in January 2019
In the Mediterranean, Med Marine launched a 30-m ASD escort tug in January for Rimorchiatori Riuniti group subsidiary Tug Malta at a shipyard in Turkey. This tug was built to RINA class and a Robert Allan RAstar 3000-W design with enhanced escort towing and seakeeping performance.
It will have a free sailing speed of 13 knots and 80 tonnes of bollard pull. This tug has twin MTU 4000M65L engines with 16V, each developing a total output of 2,560 kW. These will drive two Rolls-Royce US 255 P30 fixed pitch thrusters with 280 cm diameter and carbon fibre shafts.
Rolls-Royce is also supplying the heavy-duty escort towing winch and mooring capstan, while Data Hidrolik is supplying the electric driven capstan and towing hook.
North American operations
In the US, Connecticut-headquartered Moran Towing Corp has conducted project towage and vessel support operations this year, manoeuvring a heavy lift vessel that was transporting cranes and stacks off the Port of Virginia in January. The ship’s cargo was delivered for an expansion project to the Norfolk International Terminal in Virginia.
This cargo included 30 new container stacks for the terminal. The heavy lift ship was manoeuvred into the port by Moran Towing’s tugs Clayton W Moran, Z One, and Judy Moran. Then in February, Moran Towing’s fleet of tugs in Norfolk moved the largest floating drydock on the US east coast – BAE Shipyard’s Titan Drydock – from its regular berth to Lambert’s Point Docks.
Also this year, Moran Towing sailed harbour tug Barbara Carol Ann Moran from the New York area to Tampa, Florida, where it visited the Gulf Marine Repair shipyard. It was back in service by mid-February as part of an articulated tug-barge unit with 4,475 kW of power.
Moran Towing won a contract in February from the US Navy to provide eight tugboats for shiphandling, docking and undocking naval vessels in the Norfolk, Virginia, harbour and surrounding waters. This US$14M fixed-price contract was awarded by the US Navy’s Military Sealift Command in Norfolk, for initially 12 months to January 2020. However, there are also three 12-month options to this contract and another 11-month option.
If these contract options are exercised, the value of this contract will rise to US$74M, according to the US Navy. Then, Moran’s eight tugboats will be in service until the end of January 2024.
Moran Towing operates 14 tugboats in Norfolk and Hampton Roads, Virginia, including eight with total power of 3,130 kW, three with more than 4,475 kW of power and three others with power ranging between these.
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