PRESS RELEASE
New Sh1.1b tugboat Eugene arrives to boost marine operations at the Mombasa coastline
The new 75 Bollard Pull (BP) tugboat is the first of its kind in East and Central Africa and becomes the largest tug in a fleet of five. Currently 90% of vessels calling at port of Mombasa are post Panamax, which require at least two tugs for berthing and unberthing operations. The acquisition of this tug now guarantees two to three simultaneous vessel movement at any given time. Other marine services mega projects lined up include the acquisition of a pilot boat worth Sh600 million to be deployed to Lamu Port.
Mombasa, July 24, 2018: The Kenya Ports Authority has acquired a new the Sh1.1billion state of the art tugboat to boost efficiency at the crucial marine operations. The new 75 Bollard Pull (BP) tugboat is the first of its kind in East and Central Africa and will be instrumental in undertaking marine operations including berthing and un-berthing of ships. She becomes the largest tug in a fleet of five. Christened EUGENE, Azimuth Stern Driven (ASD) tug arrived at the Port of Mombasa on Monday after a 26-day’s journey from the Cheoy Lee Shipbuilders in China. The vessel is named after the late Capt. EUGENE OKOTH, who passed on whilst performing pilotage duties on board an inbound vessel (car carrier) on a 3rd Shift at 0100hrs in April 2016. Celebrating the tugboat’s safe voyage to the Port of Mombasa, the General Manager Human Resources and administration Dr. Amani Komora stressed the need for employees to focus on productivity even as the Authority keeps its promise of modernizing equipment. “We have delivered a tug that is superior to the previous ones, because we want to improve on quality,” he said. He promised the marine engineers and other technical staff of support in the necessary training program to keep them abreast with the ever changing technology to ensure the equipment remain well manned. Dock Workers Union Secretary General Simon Sang applauded KPA for the equipment acquisition, urging the management to ensure that the unionisable staff get adequate training opportunities to sharpen their skills. The tug is fitted with the most advanced and powerful caterpillar “E” series engines and has a length overall (LOA) of 32 meters compared to the other four “D” series ASD tugboats which have a length overall of 30 meters and a Bollard Pull of 58.