1st Quarter 2019
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NEWBUILD PROFILE First of new green tug fleet unveiled
OCEANGOING TOWAGE Tackling the safety challenges
ICE OPERATIONS How to convert a tug into an icebreaker
OPERATOR PROFILE Østensjø plans tug fleet expansion
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Move Forward with Confidence
Contents 1st Quarter 2019 volume 6 issue 1
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Regulars 3C OMMENT
4 ORDERBOOK ANALYSIS 6 CONTRACTS & COMPLETIONS 44 BUSINESS TRANSACTIONS
Newbuild profile
9 Mark E Kuebler is the first of 10 escort tugs to be completed by Gulf Island 10 WS Sirius powers into Brazilian escort operations
Special focus: Asia
13 Chinese yard sets a benchmark for green tugboats 14 Stellar terminal tugs unveiled by PSA Marine in Singapore 16 Asian shipyards prosper from new tug orders
Oceangoing and project towage 19 Tugs safely tackle the seagoing towage challenges
20 Specialised tugs demonstrate their project towing performance
Propulsion
Editor: Martyn Wingrove t: +44 20 8370 1736 e: martyn.wingrove@rivieramm.com Brand Manager: Indrit Kruja t: +44 20 8370 7792 e: indrit.kruja@rivieramm.com Head of Sales – Asia: Kym Tan t: +65 6809 1278 e: kym.tan@rivieramm.com Sales – Asia & Middle East: Rigzin Angdu t: +65 6809 3198 e: rigzin.angdu@rivieramm.com Sales – Australasia: Kaara Barbour t: +61 414 436 808 e: kaara.barbour@rivieramm.com Production Manager: Richard Neighbour t: +44 20 8370 7013 e: richard.neighbour@rivieramm.com Subscriptions: Sally Church t: +44 20 8370 7018 e: sally.church@rivieramm.com
23 Why hybrid propulsion is finding favour among tug operators 25 Svitzer is testing mechanical hybrid technology 26 Repower tugs for fuel-efficient operations
Tug design
29 Adapting design for oceangoing and offshore towage 30 Legislation is needed to drive investment in green tugs for the future
Ice operations
32 Removable bow converts tug into an icebreaker 34 Alfons Håkans overcomes the icebreaking challenges through fleet
Chairman: John Labdon Managing Director: Steve Labdon Finance Director: Cathy Labdon Published by: Riviera Maritime Media Ltd Mitre House 66 Abbey Road Enfield EN1 2QN UK
investment
Deck machinery
37 US Navy adds to deck equipment supplier orderbooks 39 Half a century of innovation; orders for Asian escort and harbour tugs
Classification
40 Future tugs will have LNG and hybrid propulsion
www.rivieramm.com ISSN 2056-709X (Print) ISSN 2056-7103 (Online) ©2019 Riviera Maritime Media Ltd
41 Class approval enables future hybrid tug construction
Operator profile
42 Østensjø Rederi has an eye for growth in towage
Next issue
Main features include: special focus – Northern Europe; propulsion – LNG & hybrid technology; terminal operations; fire-fighting & oil pollution; navigation & electronics; salvage operations; fenders
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Total average net circulation: 11,000 Period: January-December 2017 Disclaimer: Although every effort has been made to ensure that the information in this publication is correct, the Author and Publisher accept no liability to any party for any inaccuracies that may occur. Any third party material included with the publication is supplied in good faith and the Publisher accepts no liability in respect of content. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, reprinted or stored in any electronic medium or transmitted in any form or by any means without prior written permission of the copyright owner.
Tug Technology & Business | 1st Quarter 2019
COMMENT | 3
Chinese tug builders will dominate in the next decade
C Martyn Wingrove, Editor
MORE I-SHIP TUGS BUILT AS OPERATORS RECOGNISE THE BENEFITS OF INTELLIGENT TUG OPERATIONS”
hina has become a significant force in tug construction and will become a leader in implementing new technology into the next decade. The Asian powerhouse has increased its output of tugboats for domestic operators as the nation’s ports expand and new terminals open. Chinese shipyards are also building tugs for export markets with vessels built for use in southeast Asia, Australia, Africa, New Zealand and across the Pacific, in Canada. As new tugs are delivered, Chinese shipyards are enhancing their technical experience and venturing into optimised designs, intelligent tugs and LNG-fuelled vessels, with more advanced tugs expected from 2019 and certainly beyond 2020. As emission controls are introduced along much of the coastline and inland waterways, Chinese port authorities and operators are improving ship-handling operations and ordering harbour vessels with enhanced environmental performance. Orders for tugboats that comply with tightening emissions regulations are expected to accelerate this year. Four leading tug builders in China – Jiangsu Zhenjiang Shipbuilding, Cheoy Lee Shipyards, PaxOcean Engineering and Sanlin Shipyard – are busy with orders for different markets. Zhenjiang Shipyard has launched and delivered a series of tugs for domestic owners (see page 13). It launched unique twin pilot and towage vessels, Jingang Lun 31 and Jingang Lun 32 in January. These vessels present China’s capability to tackle rising digitalisation trends as they have intelligent ship (i-ship) notations from China Classification Society (CCS). Sanlin Shipyard is also building two tugboats for Tianjin Port to the i-ship notation. They will be equipped with intelligent navigation, intelligent engineroom, efficiency management and control centre systems to
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comply with CCS’s notation. More i-ship tugs will be built as operators recognise the benefits of intelligent tug operations. Zhenjiang Shipyard is also driving LNGfuel technology as it delivers its first dualfuel ASD tugboat for future operator Ningbo Zhoushan Port. Chinese terminals will require more dedicated tugboats to use LNG fuel instead of diesel, leading to more LNGfuelled tugs being built in the future. 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 export orderbook. It delivered Hinewai in New Zealand and built tugs for PSA Marine, SAAM Smit Towage Canada, South China Towing and Kenya Port Authority. This includes two stellar terminal tugs – PSA Polaris and PSA Capella – for Singapore operations (see page 14). 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. There will be considerable competition from other Asian shipyards in the next decade, as there has been in this one, with Damen constructing stock tugs from its Vietnamese facilities and yards in Malaysia, Indonesia and Bangladesh all constructing tugs this year (see page 16). However, Chinese yards have the advantage of potentially huge orders for domestic operators that need to comply with environmental rules and their intelligent and LNG technology advantages. We can expect many more intelligent and gas-fuelled tug newbuilding projects at Chinese shipyards this year and into the next decade. TTB
Tug Technology & Business | 1st Quarter 2019
4 | SPECIAL FOCUS
Illustration of two tugs ordered from Sanmar shipyard for operations in Orkney, Scotland
Tug contracts directed by higher towage and environmental demands
T
2019 started with a steady stream of tug newbuilding orders with yards securing 16 contracts compared with 27 in Q4 2018
TUG ORDERS BY SHIPBUILDER REGION OCTOBER DECEMBER 2018
North America 11
Tug Technology & Business | 1st Quarter 2019
Europe 8 Asia 6 Middle East
2
he ship towage scene is changing, as evidenced by fewer but more powerful tugs being contracted. 2019 is off to a steady start with 16 tugs ordered illustrating that new trends are having an impact on contracting. Port authorities, owners and designers are collaborating to employ vessels capable of handling the world’s largest ships. Over the last two years there has been a plethora of business with record numbers of tugs ordered. There were 27 tug newbuildings contracted in Q4 2018, according to BRL Shipping Consultants. Of these 11 were ordered in North America, eight in Europe, six in Asia and two in the Middle East. Some question if the bubble will burst. Others expect tug numbers to double, continuing the boom. Several factors account for this. Ship newbuildings are increasing in size, such as ultra large container carriers and very large ore carriers. Newcastlemax and Capesize bulk carriers, from 120,000325,000 dwt, built to transport iron ore and coal, demand attendance by three or four tugs. In ports, there is rising demand for essential safety, especially with tanker navigation, resulting in some port authorities insisting on an extra escort tug for these operations. There are around 222 large bulk carriers and 120 very large crude carriers on order for delivery over the next three years. Ports receiving such giants need to plan carefully and acquire the right tugs for the port environment. So much will change in respect to low sulphur fuel specifications from the start of 2020 under IMO legislation, and this is influencing decisions that must be made now. All
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ORDERBOOK ANALYSIS | 5
the new tugs concentrate on fuel economy as well as power which contributes to economy of scale and brings down port operational costs. However, with new environmental legislation less than a year away, some ports and owners are seriously considering direct ownership of their own tugs instead of contracting established tug owners. For example, tankers and bulk carriers operator Formosa Plastic ordered seven powerful tugs to serve vessels using Taiwanese ports for deliveries starting this year. Fortescue Metals Group is about to take control of its own tug fleet. Damen Shipyards is providing nine tugs including six Rotortugs and three other units from its shipyard in Vietnam, with deliveries set to begin in April 2019. Technical innovation is keeping pace with the new powerful designs for bigger ships. In Europe, Damen Shipyards expanded its design portfolio with a new contract from Dutch owner Herman Senior for the first Shoalbuster design to be fitted with diesel-electric propulsion. For this contract, Damen designed the Shoalbuster 3514 SD DP2classed shallow draught vessel. It is encouraging for builders that ports globally are expanding, especially in West Africa with Takoradi and Tema the latest to announce development plans. Also in Europe, P&O Reyser ordered its first IMO Tier III-compliant newbuilding tug since its formation in 2017, when P&O Maritime acquired the Spanish marine operator Reyser. This asymmetric tractor tug (ATT) will be built by P&O-owned Drydock World Dubai shipyard for operations in Barcelona port. P&O Reyser already operates a fleet of 20 tugs in 10 Spanish ports. This ATT will be built to a Cintranaval design and have 75 tonnes of bollard pull. Canadian designer Robert Allan boosted the portfolio of Turkey’s Sanmar Shipyards with a new series of RAstar 3200 SX design tugs, known as the Sanmar eXclusive Kocacay series. An inaugural order calls for two shallow draught tugs for Orkney Islands Council Marine Services. Two Caterpillar 3516 engines will form the main propulsion units on both. The 77-tonne bollard pull tugs will provide escort services in these northern isles of Scotland, replacing two older vessels.
Asia 11 Europe 2 North America 2 Middle East
1
Owners are coming under more pressure regarding increased costs to comply with IMO Tier III regulations, resulting in articulated tug-barge (ATB) units being scrapped early from US inland fleets because owners are reluctant to pay the high costs of renovation to meet new ballast water treatment legislation. Kirby Corp has announced it will scrap several of its older units and replace them with newer ATBs, over three to four years as renewal surveys fall due. It has set aside US$25M this year to fit ballast water treatment systems on younger members of the fleet. The good news for US shipyards is that Kirby will order three new tugs and 15 inland towage craft, all valued at around US$165M, in 2019. Kirby also acquired Cenac Marine Services in January 2019, adding 34 inland tugs, two offshore tugs and 63 inland petroleum barges. The acquisition of Cenac was valued at US$244M paid on cash terms. ATB traffic is currently enjoying boom conditions with many more orders guaranteed in the near future. TTB
TUG ORDERS JAN-FEB 2019 BY OWNER COUNTRY
TUGS CONTRACTED OCT-DEC 2018 OVER 20M SHIPBUILDER REGION
TUG ORDERS BY SHIPBUILDER REGION JANUARY FEBRUARY 2019
OWNER COUNTRY
TYPE
Asia
Harbour
6
Australia
5
Europe
Harbour
8
France
2
Middle East
Harbour
2
Spain
1
North America
Harbour
7
Undisclosed
4
North America
Tractor
4
United Kingdom
2
Total
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27
USA
2
Total
16
Tug Technology & Business | 1st Quarter 2019
6 | CONTRACTS & COMPLETIONS
SAAM Smit expands Canadian fleet with powerful escort tug
Tsimshian Warrior's fire-fighting systems were tested during sea trials
SAAM Smit Canada has taken delivery of its first IMO Tier III-compliant escort tug as it prepares to service a new gas export terminal in North America. Uzmar Shipyard has delivered Tsimshian Warrior, a tug with 13 knots top speed, which will support ships berthing at an LNG export terminal in British Colombia, Canada. It is the largest escort-rated, multi-mission tug to operate along the entire west coast of Canada. SAAM Smit Canada, a joint venture partnership between Dutch group Boskalis and Chile-headquartered SAAM, ordered this powerful tug in Q1 2018 to also provide emergency duties at the terminal. Tsimshian Warrior was built to a Robert Allan RAstar 3200W design. It has 83.5 tonnes of bollard pull ahead and was modified to suit extreme local conditions with upgraded systems. Its main propulsion includes two Caterpillar Cat 3516E engines and Rolls Royce US255 controlledpitch azimuth thrusters. The engines develop 2,525 kW of power and have Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR) systems to comply with IMO Tier III emission requirements. Tsimshian Warrior can perform
Tug Technology & Business | 1st Quarter 2019
all ship-handling duties, including berthing, unberthing and escorting LNG carriers in all weather conditions. It has multiple safety features that are only required on tugs that are dedicated to LNG terminal operations. These include gas detection and explosion-proof deck equipment. This tug is fully equipped for LNG terminal stand-by roles with a FiFi1 external fire-fighting system and heavyduty escort towing equipment that is suitable for rescue towing missions. SAAM Smit Canada and Robert Allan collaborated with British Columbia Coast Pilots, Pacific Maritime Institute, Towing Solutions Inc and Lantec Marine Inc in developing the design and performance characteristics of Tsimshian Warrior. This was developed and tested before construction begun to meet a stringent set of performance requirements. These partners used multiple real-time full mission bridge simulations at Pacific Maritime Institute to verify the design. These requirements include a bollard pull of more than 80 tones and indirect escort forces of up to 120 tonnes at speeds of 10 knots. Uzmar delivered Tsimshian Warrior on 22 February 2019. TTB
Notable Q1 2019 completions Tug operators worldwide took delivery of new tugboats and tug-barge combinations during the first two months of this year. Here is a summary of the key deliveries reported by Tug Technology & Business during that period. • Vane Brothers completed a threetug newbuilding series with the delivery of articulated tug-barge unit Wachapreague from Conrad Shipyards. The Assateague-class tugs were designed by Castleman Maritime with 3,300 kW of power. • Rimorchiatori Riuniti group subsidiary Tug Malta is preparing to take delivery of a new escort tug from Med Marine’s Ereğli Shipyard, which launched the Robert Allan-designed vessel in January 2019. • The port operator at Timaru on the South Island of New Zealand, PrimePort Timaru, has taken delivery of Lloyd’s Register-classed Hinewai from Cheoy Lee Shipyards • Young Brothers christened Kāpena Raymond Alapai in Hilo, Hawaii, the second of its Kāpena-class tugs that comply with the US Environmental Protection Agency’s Tier 4 emissions requirements. It was built by Conrad Shipyard in Louisiana, US. • Shaver Transportation has taken delivery of Samantha S from Portland, Oregon-based builder Diversified Marine Inc. This multipurpose tug was built to a Jensen Maritime design and ABS class for oceangoing operations and emergency situations. • Kirby Corp has started operating an articulated tug barge unit, incorporating tug Ronnie Murph and 158-m long barge, Kirby 155-03 after its delivery from Fincantieri Bay Shipbuilding. • Moran Towing Corp has won a contract from the US Navy to provide eight tugboats for shiphandling, docking and undocking naval vessels in the Norfolk, Virginia, harbour and surrounding waters.
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NEWBUILD PROFILE | 9
First of 10 green escort tugs unveiled Mark E Kuebler was built by Gulf Island Shipyards to an adapted Robert Allan Z-Tech design for escorting large ships in the US Gulf
T
he first of a series of 10 highly anticipated green escort tugs has been delivered to a US Gulf tug owner by Gulf Island Shipyards. Mark E Kuebler is one of the first escort tugs built to the highest emissions standards in the US. It was designed by Robert Allan and built to ABS class and US Coast Guard regulations for escorting large ships using terminals on the US Gulf coast. Mark E Kuebler complies with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)’s Tier 4 emissions requirements, which restrict sulphur and nitrogen oxides in the exhaust. It was also built for fire-fighting and emergency response duties. Gulf Island Shipyards built the Z-Tech 30-80 design tug at its shipyard in Galveston, Texas, at the end of 2018. Mark E Kuebler has started operations for Bay Houston Towing Co, through its operator G & H Towing Co in Texas. The original contracts for this series of escort tugs were signed in May 2017. In May 2018, Gulf Island Shipyards renegotiated these contracts, adding two more tugs to the orderbook. Of the 10 on order, five are to be built for Bay Houston Towing Co and another five for Suderman & Young Towing Co. Mark E Kuebler has an overall length of 29.5 m, moulded beam of 13 m and moulded hull depth of 5 m. Robert Allan said the hull design had evolved from Z-Tech 7500 design for escort tugs. It incorporated the sponsoned hullform from its RAstar series of tugs into the Z-Tech design. Naval architects then used computer simulations and computational fluid dynamics to adapt the design for higher escort performance. Robert Allan expects this series of 10 tugs to have 100 tonnes of steering force
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at 10 knots, which is particularly important for escorting large ships. Mark E Kuebler is classed by ABS with notations for towing, escort and fire-fighting duties. During sea trials it achieved a free running speed of 13 knots and bollard pull of 81.5 tonnes. Its main propulsion is a pair of EPA Tier 4 certified Caterpillar 3516E engines that generate 2,525 kW at 1,800 rpm. These drive Schottel SRP 510 fixed pitch Z-drive units with 280-cm diameter propellers. Electrical plant on this Z-Tech 30-80 tug consists of two John Deere 6068AFM85 diesel generator sets, each with a three-phase power output of 125 kW, 480 V and 60 Hz. Mark E Kuebler is fitted with a FiFi1 firefighting system with two pumps supplied by Fire Fighting Systems with capacity of 6,200 gallons per minute driven by two Caterpillar C18 engines. Its vessel handling fenders include 41-cm thick double loop soft fenders between the main deck and the knuckle at bow and along the sheer lines of the main deck. TTB
MARK E KUEBLER PARTICULARS Type: terminal/escort Owner: Bay Houston Towing Shipbuilder: Gulf Island Shipyards Designer: Robert Allan Design: Z-Tech 30-80 Operating area: Texas, US Bollard pull: 81.5 tonnes Length, oa: 29.5 m Beam, moulded: 13 m Hull depth, moulded: 5 m Free running speed: 13 knots Classification: ABS Main engines: 2 x CAT 3516E Propulsion: 2 x Schottel SRP 510FP Z-drive
Mark E Kuebler is a Z-Tech 30-80 design escort tug with 81.5 tonnes of bollard pull
Tug Technology & Business | 1st Quarter 2019
10 | NEWBUILD PROFILE
WS Sirius powers into Brazilian escort operations WS Sirius was built to an ASD 3212 design and has 90 tonnes of bollard pull
Wilson Sons has brought Brazil’s most powerful escort tug into Porto Açu, where it is escorting and assisting in berthing very large ore carriers and container ships
Tug Technology & Business | 1st Quarter 2019
W
ilson Sons Rebocadores introduced the most powerful harbour, terminal and oceangoing escort tug in Brazil at the beginning of November 2018. WS Sirius was built by Wilson Sons Estaleiros, in Guarujá, Brazil, as an azimuth stern drive (ASD) tug for escorting large ships into coastal and offshore terminals. Wilson Sons built this tug to a Damen design with a bollard pull of 90 tonnes. It is an ASD 3212 design escort tug with an overall length of 32 m and a beam of 12 m.
WS Sirius began operations in Porto Açu, in the north of the state of Rio de Janeiro, after 22 months in construction and outfitting. This tug is capable of sailing longer distances, of more than 100 nautical miles, and in more adverse sea and weather conditions than previous escort tugs built by Wilson Sons. This is useful to the operator as WS Sirius’ main operations is assisting very large ore carriers into an offshore terminal at Porto Açu. According to Wilson Sons Rebocadores operational director
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NEWBUILD PROFILE | 11
Marcio Castro, one of its advanced features is a render recovery winch, which means WS Sirius can maintain a safe and constant distance from a towed vessel. “Together with the automated control of the pull on the towline, this reduces the possibility of line breakage during ship manoeuvres,” he said. WS Sirius can reach 135 tonnes on the towing line in transverse arrest mode. “As an escort tug, it performs exceptionally well because of its design that co-operates in the manoeuvrability of towed ships at low and high speeds,” said Mr Castro. In reverse arrest mode it can achieve up to 180 tonnes. When connected to a vessel, this tugboat can speed up to 12 knots and 15 knots when just escorting. WS Sirius has a FiFi1 class of firefighting system. In the engineroom, there is a pair of Caterpillar 3516C HD main engines driving two Rolls-Royce US 255 fixed pitch azimuthing thrusters. “Adding WS Sirius brings our fleet to 76 tugs and consolidates our position as a leader in the Brazilian harbour towage market,” said Mr Castro. He expects tug operators
in Brazil will need more of these powerful tugs because of the larger ships entering ports in the nation. “Brazilian Ports have the challenge to operate 366-m container ships using the same access channels and port facilities,” he said. “Powerful tugs, such as WS Sirius, are the main solution for port authorities and pilots for finding ever-increasing performance in ports and terminals.” Porto Açu is a major independent Brazilian port. It has multicargo bulk terminals, an oil terminal, bunkering facilities, container terminal, LNG hub, facilities for oil transhipments and a ship repair yard. Wilson Sons Shipyards has also built four tugs for SAAM Smit Towage Brazil, which operates a fleet of 48 vessels in 15 ports and terminals along the Brazilian coast. SAAM Smit took delivery of the first of these tugs, SST Aimore, in July 2017 and then SST Arua in October 2017. Both tugs were deployed at Petrobras oil terminals in Angra Dos Reis. The other two newbuildings, SST Arara and SST Aranã, were delivered in 2018 to operate in Santos Port. TTB
WS SIRIUS PARTICULARS Flag: Brazil Owner: Wilson Sons Rebocadores Shipbuilding: Wilson Sons Estaleiros Designer: Damen Design: ASD 3212 Operating port: Porto Açu Bollard pull: 90 tonnes Length, oa: 32 m Beam: 12 m Classification: +100 A1 escort tug, FiFi1 Main Engines: 2 x CAT 3516C HD Propulsion: 2 x US255 FP Winch: render recovery
Shipyard set to be busy in 2019 It is shaping up to be a busy year for Wilson Sons Shipyards after the builder delivered a series of harbour and escort tugs in 2018. There are several newbuild project ongoing for different sectors to meet growing demand for harbour and offshore operations. Shipyard director Adalberto Souza said the facility is building another powerful escort tug for Wilson Sons Rebocadores in 2019. This would be similar in character and class to WS Sirius with 90 tonnes of bollard pull. He said there was also high levels of activity for drydocking of vessels for maintenance and conversion work. “We are aware of the difficulties the market still faces, but we are preparing for the upturn, when Brazil's economy recovers,” he explained. “We are ready to attend the demand, because we have the best infrastructure, excellent safety practices and a privileged location.” One of the key projects for 2019 is the conversion of
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a platform supply vessel into a shallow diving support vessel. This is for Wilson Sons Ultratug Offshore, which has confirmed it will drydock other vessels for repair. So, have tug operators Wilson Sons Rebocadores and SAAM Smit Towage. At the start of this year, Wilson Sons Shipyards had 20 drydockings confirmed for 2019. In 2018, it delivered tugboats SST Arara and SST Aranã to SAAM Smit, as well as WS Sirius to Wilson Sons Rebocadores. It also executed 24 drydockings, including tankers and offshore support vessels for six different clients, completed in a total of 675 days. It also converted a platform supply vessel into an oil spill recovery vessel in 2018. In February 2019, SAAM Smit announced that the partnership will be finished this year with Chileheadquartered Sociedad Matriz SAAM preparing to acquire the other half from Smit owner Royal Boskalis Westminster for US$201M.
Tug Technology & Business | 1st Quarter 2019
10
SPECIAL FOCUS: ASIA | 13
Chinese yard sets a benchmark for green tugboats Tug construction at Zhenjiang Shipyard has accelerated to meet growing demand for Chinese towage in expanding ports
Zhenjiang Shipyard launched a towage and pilot vessel for Tianjin Port Tug & Barge Co
I
t has been a hectic start to 2019 for tug construction at the Jiangsu Zhenjiang Shipyard Group, in China, with several vessels launched and delivered. The group has also progressed on an important green tug project that will set a new benchmark for environmental performance in 2019. These projects are for domestic operators to support expanding ports and terminals in China. Zhenjiang Shipyard has delivered two tugs and launched another five during the first two months of this year. It was also outfitting the first dual-fuel ASD tugboat, which will be operated in Ningbo Zhoushan Port and set emissions standards when it enters service later this year. This 38-m tug is based on a Robert Allan RAstar 3800-DF design. It will have a pair of Niigata 8L28AHX dual-fuel engines powering two Rolls-Royce US 255 controllable pitch Z-drives, a bollard pull of around 80 tonnes and LNG storage capacity of 55 m3.
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The shipyard said this vessel could achieve an exchange between fuel oil and LNG of up to 90%. “Operating in gas mode, the vessel can reduce 50% emissions of SOx, 98% emissions of particle matter, 80% emissions of NOx and 22% emissions of CO2,”the shipyard said. Zhenjiang Shipyard’s latest delivery, on 22 February, was an azimuth stern drive (ASD) tug to Shanghai Dayu Shipping, based on the Yangtze river delta. Hu Tuo 8 has two main engines that each develop 1,471 kW of power. Hu Tuo 8 will support operations in a new port in Shanghai and along the river shipping channels and is fitted for coastal towage, river towage and ship manoeuvring. On 28 January, Zhenjiang Shipyard delivered another ASD tug with a similar power rating to a Chinese port. Bingang Towing 8 was designed and built for Binzhou Port Group Co with 2,942 kW of power. This swiftly followed the launch of an ASD towing tug with a lower power rating. Cao Port 27 was launched on 27 January with 2,660 kW of power. It is being outfitted for Caofeidian Tugging Services Co for operations in Tangshan Port. The Chinese shipbuilder has launched three other tugboats this year including ASD tug Xin Beibuwangang 15 on 23 January. This was built for Beibu Gulf Port Co’s BeiHai Port branch and will have a total power output of 2,942 kW. This followed launches of two other ASD tugboats on 8 January. These tugs are built for Tianjin Port Tug & Barge Co and will each have total power of 2,354 kW. Jingang Lun 31 and Jingang Lun 32 are a unique pair of combined towing and pilotage vessels. They were designed by Robert Allan and will comply with China Classification Society requirements for intelligent ship (i-ship) and ice-class B notations. These 40-m vessels have design service speeds of more than 14 knots and extended accommodation for a crew of 10 plus pilots which is why they were built with longer hulls than usually used for a pure towing vessel design. All ASD tugs built by Zhenjiang Shipyard are lifted from dry construction facilities in the shipyard on to quaysides and are then outfitted before being delivered to their owners. Zhenjiang Shipyard completed a series of ASD tugs for Cangzhou Bohai’s new district Gangxing Tugboat Co in December 2018. It delivered two ASD tugboats, Huanghuagang Tuo 8 and Huanghuagang Tuo 9, on 19 December. On 8 December, the shipyard delivered Huanghuagang Tuo 6 and Huanghuagang Tuo 7 to Gangxing Tugboat, with each ASD tug having total power of 3,824 kW. TTB
Tug Technology & Business | 1st Quarter 2019
14 | SPECIAL FOCUS: ASIA
PSA Polaris was built to Lloyd's Register class with 52 tonnes of bollard pull
Stellar terminal tugs unveiled by PSA Marine in Singapore PSA Polaris and PSA Capella were built by Cheoy Lee Shipyards, designed by Robert Allan as Z-Tech 5000 terminal tugs and adapted for Singaporean operations
PARTICULARS OF PSA POLARIS AND PSA CAPELLA Owner: PSA Marine Builder: Cheoy Lee Shipyards Operating: Singapore
R
obert Allan’s Z-Tech 5000-design tugs PSA Polaris and PSA Capella were delivered to PSA Marine in Singapore on 26 October 2018. The deckhouse and wheelhouse were restyled to improve visibility of deck operations. PSA Polaris and PSA Capella were built in China to Lloyd’s Register class for Singapore coastal service up to 30 nautical miles from shore. Their Z-tech design is a combination of the best operational characteristics of both Z-drive tractor tugs and azimuthing stern-drive tugs. PSA
Tug Technology & Business | 1st Quarter 2019
Type: Terminal tug Polaris and PSA Capella both have an overall length of 27.40 m and a moulded beam of 11.50 m with a hull depth of 5.03 m and a maximum draught of 5.25 m. These 333-gt tugs each have an ahead bollard pull 52 tonnes, free running speed of 12.53 knots and can store 100 m3 of fuel oil and 23 m3 of potable water. Main propulsion on PSA Polaris and PSA Capella comprises a pair of Yanmar 6EY26W diesel engines, each rated at 1,530 kW of power at 750 rpm driving Schottel SRP 360 fixed
Designer: Robert Allan Design: Z-Tech 5000 Length oa: 27.40 m Beam, moulded: 11.50 m Depth, moulded: 5.03 m Maximum draught: 5.25 m Gross Tonnage: 333 Bollard pull: 52.0 tonnes Free running speed: 12.53 knots Crew: 6 Fuel oil: 100 m3
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SPECIAL FOCUS: ASIA | 15
pitch rudderpropeller Z-drive units. Electrical plant on board these tugs consists of two Perkins E70TAG1M diesel generator sets, each generating three-phase power output of 96 kW at 415 V and 50 Hz. Their deck machinery incorporates a MacGregor hydraulic towing winch on the bow, spooled with 220 m of line on the working drum. There is also a Palfinger knuckle deck crane on the aft deck for line and equipment lifting. PSA Polaris and PSA Capella both have fenders all around the main deck for handling ships of different sizes and types. At the bow there is one tier of cylindrical fendering at the main deck level and W-block fenders between the main deck and the knuckle at bow and stern, hollow square style fenders along the sheer lines of main deck, stem and skeg and more fendering at the stern. They can accommodate a crew of six seafarers and comply with the Maritime Labour Convention 2006 rules. Each tug has a single cabin for the master and chief engineer, two double cabins on the main deck, with a pantry and mess room located on the lower deck. A terminal and towage tug was also built to a similar design for Hong Kong-based South China Towing, also delivered in October 2018. These Z-Tech designs were jointly developed by Robert Allan and PSA Marine in response to specific requirements and challenges of Singaporean operations. The first Z-Tech tug was delivered in 2003. Since then, around 90 tugs of eight versions of the basic design have been built or are under construction worldwide. In September 2018, PSA Marine began operating high-power escort tugs PSA Thor and PSA Hulk in Singapore. These LR-classed azimuthing stern drive tugs were built by PaxOcean Shipyard to Robert Allan RAmparts 3200 design with 82 tonnes of bollard pull. PSA Thor and PSA Hulk each have a pair of Caterpillar 3516C diesel engines, Schottel SRP Z-drives and Cummins QSM11-M diesel generator sets. TTB
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Outboard Profile
Plan
Hold Plan
MAIN SUPPLIERS: Main propulsion: Yanmar 6EY26W
ABOVE: General Arrangement of PSA Polaris and PSA Capella
Propellers: Schottel SRP Z-drives Gensets: Perkins Deck machinery: MacGregor Deck crane: Palfinger knuckle Class: Lloyd’s Register Design: Robert Allan
Tug Technology & Business | 1st Quarter 2019
16 | SPECIAL FOCUS: ASIA
Asian shipyards prosper from new tug orders Shipyards in Vietnam, Japan, Indonesia and Malaysia are building tugboats for local operators and major shipping groups, including a dual-fuel first
V
ietnamese shipyards have prospered from tug construction in the last year. Damen’s facility in Vietnam is building up to nine tugs for mining and shipping companies operating in Australia. Damen Song Cam shipyard is constructing six Rotortugs to an 85-32W design for Pilbara Marine’s towage requirements in Port Hedland. It is also building three 499-gt units for Fortescue Metals Group (FMG), according to BRL Shipping Consultants. Two more are set to be built for FMG, but at the end of February were still listed for Damen’s account. Delivery of these tugs is set to commence in April 2019. Damen is using a prompt delivery programme for these orders with hulls built for stock and then outfitted to owner requirements within 8-12 weeks. FMG will operate the tugs to service three iron ore berths at Anderson Point. They will be housed at a new nine-berth tug harbour at Herb Elliott Point. FMG will own FMG Hammerhead, FMG Mako and FMG Spinner. Two on the Damen account are expected to be named FMG Dusky and FMG Spinner. Piriou’s Vietnamese shipyard is building a series of new harbour and escort tugs for Boluda Corporación Marítima’s French subsidiary, with the first two set to be delivered before the end of Q2 2019. Four of these tugs were confirmed in 2018, and in January 2019, Piriou received confirmation for
two more from Boluda France. These should be ready for service in Q2 2020. Boluda France is expected to confirm the order for two more tugs of this series later this year. They are all 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. In Bangladesh, shipyards have secured orders for up to six tug newbuildings. PT Citra Jahari has received contracts to build four 431-gt harbour tugs for owner PT Jasa Amada. In addition, Khulna Shipyard has an order for two harbour tugs from an undisclosed owner, according to BRL. In Japan, Mitsui OSK Lines (MOL) took delivery of the first LNG-fuelled tugboat built in the nation on 28 February, for operations in Osaka Bay. Ishin was built by Kanagawa Dockyard Co in Kobe, Japan, for inland sea towage operations. It features a removable LNG fuel tank mounted on the exposed deck at the stern of the ship. This 43.6-m tugboat is due to start operations in April under Nihon TugBoat’s operatorship. It will regularly refuel at a specialised facility in Sakai Senboku Port. In Indonesia, PaxOcean Group subsidiary Graha Trisaka is building five harbour tugs and three escort tugs for tanker and bulk carrier owner Formosa Plastics. These tugs will be operated by Mailiao Harbor Administration Corp in Taiwan. Graha Trisaka is building these tugs to Robert Allan designs in three different sizes. The first of the harbour tugs is scheduled for delivery in Q3 2019, while the three larger escort tugs are due to enter service between May and September in 2020. In Malaysia, Lighthouse Marine is building two harbour tugs for Tong Hang Marine and Tai Tung Hing is building a tug for 2019 delivery, according to BRL. TTB
ASIA TUG ORDERS OCTOBER 2018-FEBRUARY 2019 COUNTRY
BUILDER
NUMBER
OWNER
TYPE
Bangladesh
Khulna Shipyard
Bangladesh
PT Citra Jahari
Vietnam
Damen Song Cam
5
Vietnam
Damen Song Cam
4
Vietnam
Piriou Vietnam
2
Boluda France
GRT
DELIVERY
2
Undisclosed
Harbour
4
PT Jasa Amada
Harbour
431
FMG
Harbour
499
Undisclosed
Harbour
2020
Harbour
2020
2019 2019 2019
Source: BRL Shipping
Tug Technology & Business | 1st Quarter 2019
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OCEANGOING AND PROJECT TOWAGE | 19
Tugs safely tackle seagoing towage challenges Multraship mobilised a floating roro jetty from the Netherlands to Norway, decommissioned French naval ships to Belgium and moved drilling rigs to Scotland and the Netherlands
M
ultraship Towage & Salvage is heavily involved in oceangoing and project towage work in northern Europe, in addition to its harbour tow and terminal operations. During Q4 2018, Multraship towed a roro floating jetty from the Netherlands to Norway. Its tugs also mobilised French naval vessels and moved multiple rigs last year. “We have a large and diversified fleet of tugs of varying types, capacities and configurations which can be used for harbour towage and other operations, including sea towage and salvage,” said Multraship managing director Leendert Muller. He explained that the company is committed to incorporating the latest tug designs and technology for all types of towage activities. “We are committed to expanding that fleet when the opportunity allows and when demand dictates,” he told Tug Technology & Business. “And we have always invested heavily in the ships, equipment and personnel, which we believe are needed to provide the level of service required by the industry, both now and in the future.” These services include safely transporting rigs, ships and other maritime structures between ports and countries. “Safety must at all times be our primary objective,” said Mr Muller. In November 2018, Multraship demonstrated its safe towage experience
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by mobilising a roro linkspan 560 nautical miles from Vlissingen in the Netherlands to Halden in Norway in collaboration with Dutch Offshore Contractors, which had engineered, purchased and modified the floating jetty for ferry group DFDS. Dutch Offshore Contractors prepared the Atlas roro linkspan at its yard in Vlissingen and Multraship’s tug Multratug 17 started its tow on 4 November. Atlas was delivered and safely moored in Halden on 8 November after passing through the Norwegian fjords and other narrows seaways.
SAFETY MUST AT ALL TIMES BE OUR PRIMARY OBJECTIVE” “Tows of such complexity call for a cautious approach because structures of this kind are not very stable under tow due to the nature of their construction and draught,” said Mr Muller. “We therefore had to ensure that the sea passage was initiated within a favourable weather window.” This was in accordance with the marine warranty surveyor’s towage approval. “The tow was undertaken, at an average speed of almost 6 knots, in moderate easterly
Multratug 4 tows a crane barge into the North Sea to support construction of an offshore windfarm
winds with a maximum of Beaufort 4 for the duration of the voyage,” Mr Muller explained. Earlier in 2018, Multratug 17 and Multratug 20 were deployed to tow the decommissioned French naval vessels 1968-built Aconit and 1961-built Rhin from Brest and Landévennec in France, to shipbreakers in Belgium. The condition of these laid-up naval ships was one of the challenges Multraship encountered. “Such vessels are often in terrible condition, and this was certainly the case here, presenting us with a real challenge in terms of how to prepare and connect to a tow,” said Mr Muller. “A specialist team inspected the vessels well in advance of the tow being undertaken and completed plans for the safe towage of the vessels by sea.” There were further inspections at the beginning of the tow, which took nearly four days before the ships reached Belgium. In Q4 2018, Multraship also assisted drilling rigs in ports in the Netherlands and Scotland. TTB
Tug Technology & Business | 1st Quarter 2019
20 | OCEANGOING AND PROJECT TOWAGE
Tugs demonstrate project towing performance 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
T
ug 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 that 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
Tug Technology & Business | 1st Quarter 2019
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.”
Seacontractors operates tugs for project work, escort and emergency towage
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OCEANGOING AND PROJECT TOWAGE | 21
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
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
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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. TTB
Tug Technology & Business | 1st Quarter 2019
Sulphur Cap 2020 Conference | Awards | Exhibition 8-9 May 2019, Amsterdam
Information critical in countdown to 2020 In less than 10 months’ time a once-in-a-generation regulatory change will shift most of the global fleet onto entirely new fuels, about which little is yet known. Others will have to look to technologies that have so far played only a small role in the maritime sector. For the well-informed shipowner or operator, IMO’s global sulphur cap is an opportunity as well as a challenge. The challenge remains the selection of the appropriate compliance method and the preparation of fleet, crew and ancillary functions. Opportunities include improving the cost base relative to competitors, investing in efficient new technologies and processes and safeguarding the fleet against future environmental regulation.
The European Sulphur Cap 2020 Conference aims to shed light on these opportunities, addressing: • Which compliance option for which vessel and trade • What your crew needs to know about low-sulphur blends • How availability and pricing of low-sulphur fuel will affect uptake and operations • When a scrubber is a good choice for your vessel or fleet • How to tackle the challenges of scrubber financing, installation and maintenance • How growing availability and lower capex demands are driving LNG uptake • Why advances in gas-fuelled technology are driving today’s engine developments • How your chosen compliance method will affect your ship engines, machinery and technical operations • Why the 2020 sulphur cap offers a path to compliance with future environmental regulation. Book your place online today at www.sulphurcap2020.com/book-now or for more information please contact Tom Kenny on +44 20 8370 7791 or at tom.kenny@rivieramm.com
www.sulphurcap2020.com Platinum sponsor
In association with
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PROPULSION | 23
Tugboats are one of the focus segments for Wärtsilä's integrated hybrid propulsion package
Why hybrid propulsion is finding favour among tug operators Tugboat builders are installing smaller engines as demand for cost-effective emissions compliance intensifies
I
n October last year, Svitzer’s harbour operations at Tanger-Med port took delivery of four tugs that are quietly revolutionary, marking the first time that terminal tugs with a bollard pull of 90 tonnes have been powered by high-speed engines. The boats are driven by two 16-cylinder M73L diesel engines from MTU. Delivering 2,700 kW each, they mark a departure from the usual industry practice of installing
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medium-speed engines for vessels that require a bollard pull of 85 tonnes or greater. The result, said MTU senior sales manager Andreas Müller-Hirlinger, is an installation that saves both space and money. “High-speed engines are much more compact than their medium-speed counterparts, and also have lower price tags,” he said. The installation of these tugs, measuring just under 30 m long and with a beam of 6 m, needs to be particularly compact. And while the smaller high-speed engines do save space, there is a factor that erodes some of that saving. With their regular speed of 1,970 rpm, the engines require a gearbox to drive the Schottel azimuth propellers. In this instance, MTU reduced the speed to
Tug Technology & Business | 1st Quarter 2019
24 | PROPULSION
AS FUELS BECOME CLEANER THAT WILL OPEN THE MARKET FOR HIGH-SPEED ENGINES, ESPECIALLY IN THE LOWER POWER RANGE”
Integrated SCRs with flexible configurations are a focus for engine designers (credit: MAN Eneergy Solutions)
1,850 rpm, allowing the engines to drive the propellers directly. The use of high-speed engines is being extended into a wider range of marine applications as enginebuilders introduce topof-the-range models with greater power and as tug hull designs are optimised, requiring less power for propulsion. But there are other reasons too. Last year Wärtsilä launched its first high-speed engine, the Wärtsilä 14. The uptake of high-speed engines will increase as hybrid propulsion becomes more commonplace, said Wärtsilä director of small-bore engines Janne Klemola. The company’s integrated hybrid propulsion package, Wärtsilä HY, comprises engines, batteries and an energy management system (EMS). As the EMS becomes smarter and battery systems increase in power density, Mr Klemola foresees the possibility of replacing medium-speed engines with smaller, high-speed units. For shipowners the upside will include lower upfront investment, smaller installation footprints, lower lifecycle fuel consumption and reduced maintenance. That, he said, is one of the main reasons for Wärtsilä’s entry into the high-speed engine market. The changing marine fuel mix will also have an impact. When IMO’s global sulphur cap arrives, the possibility of burning highsulphur, high-viscosity heavy fuel oil will be removed for vessels that do not have an exhaust gas cleaning system. More operators will use cleaner, less viscous fuels such as marine gasoil. As a result, high-speed engines will be less likely to be barred by their requirement for less viscous fuel. “As fuels become cleaner that will open the market for high-speed engines, especially in the lower power range,” said Mr Klemola. “Depending on the fuel type they are selecting and how they run their vessels we can offer either heavy-duty, medium-speed engines or high-speed engines.” Accompanying the launch of the new engine, which packs 1,340 kW of power in its biggest 16-cylinder ‘V’ configuration, was a design for a 40-tonne bollard pull tug. The Wärtsilä HYTug 40 is a smaller version of the HYTug launched in 2017, designed for shallow draught operation. It features two Wärtsilä 14 engines – 12-cylinder versions offering 850 kW of power at 1,800 rpm – and an energy storage system with a capacity of
Tug Technology & Business | 1st Quarter 2019
450 kWh. Along with an energy management system, the engine and energy storage make up one configuration of Wärtsilä’s integrated hybrid propulsion package, Wärtsilä HY.
Integrated packages
Wärtsilä is not alone in offering hybrid propulsion to enable smaller and cheaper engine installations. A tug due to be delivered to Baydelta Marine in San Francisco this year will feature the first MTU hybrid propulsion system, incorporating power take-in, electric motors, main propulsion engines and RollsRoyce azimuth thrusters. Rolls-Royce will supply all electric motors, shaft generators and a power management and control system. The hybrid arrangement provides power to US255 azimuth thrusters with ducted fixed pitch propellers that can be rotated 360° around the vertical axis. This arrangement optimises omni-directional thrust and manoeuvrability as well as providing improved crash stop capability. Rolls-Royce Commercial Marine senior vice president Americas Griff Lane noted that the hybrid arrangement allowed Nichols Brothers Boat Builders and ship designer Jensen Maritime to achieve the required bollard pull from a smaller engine than would otherwise have been required. “It provides greater operational flexibility which allows for the system to provide improved fuel efficiency, redundancy, and reduced emissions,” he said. The tug’s power arrangement is a forerunner to an integrated hybrid propulsion package that Rolls-Royce aims to launch in 2020 after testing on a superyacht this year. Tugboats, with their widely variable power demands and the frequency at which they work in ports and other areas sensitive to air quality, will be high on the company’s target list. Reducing emissions was a prime concern in constructing Damen’s latest tug design, the first diesel-electric version of its Shoalbuster 3514 in shallow-draught arrangement. The Shoalbuster 3514 SD DP2 will be used by owner Herman Senior initially for windfarm support work in coastal waters. But, according to Herman Senior managing director Jack van Dodewaard, the vessel will be equally capable of working on projects further offshore. With a 60-tonne bollard pull, the
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PROPULSION | 25
vessel – to be named Brutus – will also have the potential to attract towing work. “The vessel will be very fuel efficient and will have a very low carbon footprint,” said Mr van Dodewaard. That is a direct result of the diesel-electric configuration, which allows the operator to run from one to four engines depending on propulsion power demand, with the remaining engines providing power for one of the many tasks within the vessel’s remit. The versatile vessel will feature IMO Tier III certified propulsion via four Caterpillar C32 ACERT engines driving four 1,900 mm-nozzle waterjets. The C32 engines will deliver a total of 3,876 kW, with selective catalytic reduction (SCR) units developed by Caterpillar when it launched the Tier III version of the engine last year. Important aspects of the updated engine are newly designed air filters, integrating a sump ventilation system and replacing cooling water hoses with pipes to cut maintenance. The latest version also omits an expansion tank to make it more compact.
Emissions control
Alongside the SCR are other emissionsreducing design improvements. Cylinder cut-off enables cylinders to be disengaged to prevent low temperatures occurring in the engine, improving catalyst durability and reducing smoke. And a software-aided fuel
and urea delivery system makes sure that both engine and SCR are working optimally to keep emissions within limits. Improving the integration of SCR is a focus point at present for engine designers. MAN Energy Solutions has recently been granted IMO Tier III certification for its MAN 175D SCR system by several classification societies after passing its final type-approval test. The unit accompanies MAN’s high-speed MAN 175 engine, and the Tier III approvals cover the use of the SCR with the existing 12-cylinder engine configuration, as well as forthcoming 16 and 20-cylinder models. Due to its IMO NOx Scheme A certification, the procedure this system can be installed directly without further onboard confirmation tests. That will save valuable cost for the first buyer of the new system, P&O Reyser, which will use two MAN 12V175D engines on a 27-m, 75-tonne bollard pull asymmetric tractor tug. The engines will be supplied to vessel builder Drydocks World in Dubai. The vessel is due to enter service in mid-2020. P&O Reyser managing director Iñigo Garcia explained that the tugboat is the result of two years’ development work between MAN and Reyser parent group P&O Maritime. The result, he said, is “a state-ofthe-art tug complying with the most strict environmental requirements for deployment in the Port of Barcelona”. TTB
AS ENERGY MANAGEMENT BECOMES SMARTER AND BATTERY SYSTEMS INCREASE IN POWER DENSITY, THERE WILL BE THE POSSIBILITY TO REPLACE MEDIUM-SPEED ENGINES WITH HIGH-SPEED UNITS”
Schottel cuts electricity with mechanical hybrid Hybrid configurations do not always need to include batteries – or even electric motors, according to a collaboration between Svitzer and propulsion specialist Schottel. The two companies have developed a new arrangement based on Schottel’s recently developed Y-Hybrid thruster technology, which allows port and starboard azimuth thrusters to be connected, meaning that both can be driven by either of the main engines. The conventional hybrid arrangement for tugboats involves at least one power source (diesel engine or electric motor) for each thruster. Using the Sydrive-M, the flexibility of a hybrid arrangement can be achieved without adding gearboxes or electrical components. This arrangement means that owners can select a hybrid configuration without altering their existing vessel design. Schottel head of product management Sacha Scholz explained: “Conventional hybrid vessels are getting overloaded with additional components including generators, frequency
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converters, batteries and automation. This is fine in large vessels, but in smaller vessels there is not enough space left, so, an expensive redesign is often necessary. The hybrid mechanical concept avoids this by relying on only the existing components and a shaftline between the two thrusters.” In light operation or free sailing mode, when full power of both engines is not needed, one of the two main engines remains alternating off. The working engine is more optimally loaded than two engines working at relatively low load in a conventional set-up. In fire-fighting mode, the disengaged main engine is used to drive the pump through its front power take-off, with no requirement for dedicated engines or extra clutches and controllable pitch propellers. In full thrust operation, the connection between the two thrusters is disengaged and each engine is engaged to a thruster.
Tug Technology & Business | 1st Quarter 2019
26 | PROPULSION
Repower tugs for fuelefficient operations Retrofitting workboats will revitalise their performance, reducing fuel consumption and emissions
M
aturing tugboats can be reinvigorated for another decade of harbour and terminal operations by investing in their propulsion systems. Engines can be upgraded and hybrid propulsion and low-emissions machinery fitted to prolong life and reduce pollutants. Tug owners are also advised to deploy monitoring and analysis technology to optimise engine performance and reduce fuel consumption further. This was the advice from Caterpillar Marine product manager Dra Wiersema at Riviera Maritime Media’s Annual Offshore Support Journal Conference, held in London in February 2019. He said that through these upgrades, 15-year-old workboats could compete with modern vessels and become 10% more fuel efficient. Owners can lower operating costs and maintenance while increasing uptime through repower projects, Mr Wiersema explained. He described how owners can retrofit tugs to meet IMO Tier III fuel and emission regulations. Installing variable speed generator sets could increase vessel efficiency by up to 20%, compared with using constant speed gensets. Retrofitting vessels with electric motors and batteries reduces the load demand on engines for propulsion. Mr Wiersema said version 3.0 of Caterpillar’s Multi-Engine Optimiser (MEO) tool can advise engineers on managing diesel-electric and hybrid propulsion to optimise operations and reduce fuel consumption. MEO is an advisory load control system. “It leverages data and algorithms to provide the best combination of load points,” Mr Wiersema explained. “It can be combined with a battery manager for charging and discharging and with digitalisation with Cat Asset Intelligence.” Cat Asset Intelligence uses sensors to monitor the performance and condition of engineroom systems and can be utilised for predictive maintenance strategies. Remotely monitoring enginerooms will also improve
Tug Technology & Business | 1st Quarter 2019
Dra Wiersema (Caterpillar): "Owners can lower operating costs and maintenance while increasing uptime through repower projects"
operations on newbuild tugs and minimise emissions by deploying internet of things (IoT) technology. This is being adopted by tug-builder Damen Shipyards that is using smart sensors and analysis packages. Damen has turned to California, US-based Flicq to deliver IoT technology for its connected newbuildings using Flicq’s remote sensing platform that incorporates algorithms, analytics and sensor packages for new vessels. Damen is deploying its digital platform to maximise the performance and reliability of vessels it delivers by monitoring the health of engineroom systems. One of the first tugs to be connected with this digital platform is E-Two, an azimuth stern drive (ASD) tugboat ordered by EMAR Offshore Services. This vessel is based on a Damen ASD 2811 tug design and is built for harbour, terminal and coastal towage. Flicq systems have been installed on 45 Damen-built vessels since Q3 2018, and both companies expect sensors will be installed on 165 vessels this year. Damen project manager for innovation Solco Reijnder said a modern tug could have as many as 2,000 information points on board, with 250 in the engineroom all sending data to the bridge for display and interpretation. TTB
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TUG DESIGN | 29
Tug design adapted for oceangoing and offshore towage
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aval architects at OSD-IMT have developed a design for a compact anchorhandling towage vessel with considerable bollard pull. OSDIMT utilised designs for oceangoing towage vessels from Wijsmuller Engineering and enhanced them for the latest towage requirements. This created the OSD-IMT7501 design as a modern interpretation of the legacy Tempest design. OSD-IMT managing director Lodewijk van Os believes this design fills a void at the lower end of the offshore and deepsea towage market. It combines the power and performance of larger towage anchor handlers, but is more compact, which lowers construction costs. It has an overall length of 51 m and a maximum bollard pull of 120 tonnes. “Our Wijsmuller design legacy has been an inspiration for developing this new generation of compact oceangoing tug,” Mr van Os told Tug Technology & Business.
OSD-IMT’s anchorhandling towage vessel design includes an S-bow and additions to the hull for improved stability
OSD-IMT7501 is suited for project towage and supporting installation and decommissioning activities for the oil, gas and renewables markets. In developing the design, architects at OSD-IMT incorporated an S-bow concept with flexibility that enables engineers to amend the bow’s transverse profile to suit specific performance requirements. Using an S-bow means OSD-IMT7501 has improved waterline entry angles and smoother vessel motions, which result in higher crew comfort. The S-bow flares out towards the top, giving reserve buoyancy forward in rougher seas and
OSD-IMT 7501 design is dedicated to oceangoing towage and anchor handling
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providing a practical forecastle deck. Another addition to the design is a knuckle at the waterline of the aft- and midship sections of the vessel. This delivers a narrower waterline beam that reduces sailing resistance and provides reserve buoyancy adding to the stability of this tug during anchor-handling operations, or in case of heeling. The freeboard of the working deck was heightened, as compared with similar sized vessels to reduce the influx of seawater on the aft deck. Designers reviewed the layout of working spaces on board to create safe working environments and provide better access to equipment. They also expanded the accommodation to provide space for the 14-20 crew to spend their off-watch time. OSD-IMT7501 can be tailored to suit different owner requirements and anticipated operational conditions. Working space layouts can be changed and different engineroom and power generation systems added. A hybrid propulsion and power system can be incorporated to reduce emissions and improve operational efficiency. The knuckle on the OSD-IMT7501 hull features on many of OSD-IMT’s Azistern tug designs and is the result of extensive tank testing. The latest Azistern designs are for tugs with hybrid propulsion. Azistern-e series range 20-26 m in overall length and has bollard pull capabilities between 35-75 tonnes. Azistern 2035e is the smallest of three hybrid propulsion tug designs at 20 m long with a design draught of 3.75 m. It has a bollard pull of around 35 tonnes and is suitable for smaller harbours and inland waterways. OSD’s Azistern 2250e has a length of 21.45 m, draught of 4.6 m and bollard pull of 50 tonnes for port operations. TTB
Tug Technology & Business | 1st Quarter 2019
30 | TUG DESIGN
Legislation needed for a greener tugboat future LNG-fuelled and hybrid tug designs are ready if owners are driven to invest through subsidies, government funding or regulation
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aval architects have designed tugs with hybrid propulsion or dual-fuel engines that lower emissions and fuel consumption for owners. Limited numbers of these types of tugboat have been ordered, so, a change in the shipping industry’s desire to cut emissions in ports is needed before fleets of greener tugs are ordered. Damen Shipyards has designed and built tugs with hybrid propulsion and dual-fuel engines for the last five years. Damen product manager for tugs Dirk Degroote said tug operators should record fuel consumption to estimate gaseous emissions and provide this information to regulators. This would demonstrate the measures that owners have already initiated to reduce pollution. “Less than 1% of tugs are greener than conventional tugs,” he said. “It will take a very long time to replace these with greener tugs and there would need to be sustainable and viable business before anything happens.”
He asked what the tug industry was willing to do to introduce greener tugs. “There needs to be a change in mindset,” Mr Degroote said. “It will be a mixture of buying new tugs and dealing with existing tugs through better assessment of emissions.” He thinks governments need to offer subsidies to get newbuild and conversion hybrid and green tug projects underway. But, tugs also need to be viable for commercial requirements, so, “there needs to be an economic case,” he said. One way that designers can assist is to include facilities for energy storage devices that could be leased and replaced. “Then there is less upfront investment,” said Mr Degroote. But he asked what happens to batteries after they are removed from tugs. “Would there be a second life for these batteries?” Another way naval architects can assist owners is to design tugs with IMO Tier II compliance that have enough engineroom and deck space for future conversion to IMO Tier III. “Owners could buy now and upgrade perhaps in three years’ time,” he suggested. “There are greener vessel designs available – it is possible to reduce emissions.” Damen has designed and built tugs with hybrid propulsion including the latest to be delivered, Fregate, built to a Damen WID Tug 2915 design and to Bureau Veritas class. Dutch Dredging and Iskes Towage & Salvage jointly invested in this multipurpose tug for operations in the ports of Cayenne and Kourou in French Guiana.
Damen-designed Fregate has hybrid propulsion systems for lower emissions and fuel consumption
Tug Technology & Business | 1st Quarter 2019
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TUG DESIGN | 31
Robert Allan has provided designs for LNG-fuelled tugs, three of which are operating in Norway, and for hybrid propulsion tugboats. It uses computers to help create these designs and test their hydrodynamic performance. Its naval architects also co-operate with classification societies to design LNG facilities and associated pipework and with manufacturers of dual-fuel engines. Robert Allan manager of project development Jim Hyslop thinks one of the biggest challenges in designing these tugs is the lack of deck space they have for adequate LNG storage. Another challenge for owners considering LNG-fuelled tugs is finding the refuelling infrastructure in port. On the commercial side, it is the higher capital expenditure required to construct dual-fuel tugs. “There is a financial burden on owners and technology burden on designers,” said Mr Hyslop. This is why less than 15 LNG-fuelled tugs have been built so far worldwide, and why owners consider hybrid propulsion and engines with selective catalytic reduction (SCR) units for treating NOx emissions first. There should be a return on investment for the higher costs of greener tugs, when set against those with conventional propulsion, in terms of lower fuel costs. However, Mr Hyslop thinks this is not enough for owners to order in bulk. “There is not an economic case for reducing emissions,” he said. “Legislators will need to drive our industry into reducing emissions.” A legislative push and/or subsidies for green propulsion are the best ways forward for better environmental operations in the towage and ports sector. Mr Hyslop described two examples where this has already occurred. He said tugs with hybrid propulsion have operated in California, US, for more than six years due to funding by port authorities in Los Angeles and Long Beach. In 2011, Foss Maritime converted the propulsion on 2005-built tug Campbell Foss into a hybrid system, an industry first at the time, to
operate in these ports. A sister tug with hybrid propulsion was also operated in these ports. In November 2018, Foss transferred Campbell Foss, a Dolphin-class tug, to Anchorage, Alaska, where it was renamed Bering Wind and is operated by subsidiary Cook Inlet Tug & Barge. Bering Wind is powered by two Series II Caterpillar main engines and twin Rolls-Royce US 205 fixed pitch Z-drives. It also has a Marathon generator set that delivers 125 kW of power for the diesel-electric hybrid service. During Q1 2019, shipbuilder Nichols Brothers Boat Builders expects to deliver a new tractor tug with Rolls-Royce hybrid propulsion to Baydelta Maritime for operations in container terminals on the US west coast. Elsewhere in the US, tug owners have ordered vessels with propulsion systems that comply with the most stringent emissions regulations from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The latest of these tugs to be delivered, Samantha S for Shaver Transportation, meets EPA Tier 4 requirements for operations in the Colombia River. It was built by Diversified Marine Inc to a Jensen Maritime design and ABS class. Mr Hyslop also highlighted that Østensjø Rederi operates three LNG-fuelled azimuth reverse tractor tugs – Audax, Dux and Pax – at Equinor’s LNG production plant and export terminal on Melkoya Island, near Hammerfest in northern Norway. These Robert Allan-designed and Bureau Veritas-classed tugs provide towage, escort and berthing services to LNG carriers operating at the export terminal. They needed to be LNG-fuelled because of a mandate from the Norwegian Government and the needs of the terminal to reduce emissions. If there are no subsidies, upfront funding or legislative push, then owners need to lobby regulators or find commercial methods to facilitate capital expenditure in greener tugs. TTB
US designers for EPA Tier 4 In the US, shipyards are constructing more tugs to EPA Tier 4 from designers such as Guarino & Cox. Alabama-based Master Boat Builders has used designs from this naval architect for articulated tug-barge (ATB) units, such as Cape Lookout, delivered in Q3 2018. Castleman Maritime designed tugs for ATBs that Conrad Shipyards built for Vane Brothers. Two of these – Assateague and Chincoteague – were delivered in 2018, while a third tug, Wachapreague, was completed in March 2019. These are Tier 4, 3,300-kW tugs that drive 80,000-barrel capacity petroleum barges.
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CT Marine designed Z-drive tugs for Marquette Transportation, which were built by C&C Marine and Repair in the US. The latest of these, Jerry Jarrett, was delivered in September 2018 to join sister tugs, Chris Reeves and Cindy L. Erickson, which are already in service. C&C Marine formed Hyperion Marine Engineering Group, which merged with Ocean Tug & Barge Engineering (OT&BE) in October 2018. This amalgamated naval architecture and marine engineering for inland and offshore tugs and barges. All Hyperion’s ATB designs begin with a 3D model which is used to produce 2D
drawings for shipyards, owners and class. By using 3D models, naval architects can identify potential conflicts and resolve them before construction begins. Hyperion uses 3D ship design packages such as Ship Constructor, Nupas Cadmatic and Catia for creating and adapting these models. OT&BE has design expertise in the offshore, oceangoing and inland towage sectors. Jensen Maritime has become a main designer of tugs operating on the US west coast. In 2018, it supplied tugboat designs to Foss Maritime for constructing up to 10 escort tugs by Nichols Brother Boat Builders. These tugs will be based on an adapted Valor tugboat design and will comply with EPA Tier 4.
Tug Technology & Business | 1st Quarter 2019
32 | ICE OPERATIONS
Removable bow converts tug into an icebreaker Construction is underway on the first self-propelled, removable icebreaking bow to create shipping channels in a key Scandinavian inland waterway
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LRT Grupp is building a revolutionary removable bow designed by naval architects at ILS Ship Design & Engineering for an icebreaking project in Finland. It is under construction at a shipyard in Klaipeda, Lithuania, and scheduled to be attached to a tug during Q4 2019. ILS has designed two versions of these temporary bows that can be attached to vessels for icebreaking requirements. According to ILS general manager Kristian Lehtonen, the first self-propelled, removable bow module will be transferred from Lithuania to BLRT-owned Turku repair yard, in Finland, for outfitting on to an azimuth stern drive (ASD) pusher tug later this year. “We have designed and ice-model tested two removable bow sizes,” Mr Lehtonen told Tug Technology & Business. “What is now under construction is the smaller one, intended for inland waterways icebreaking.” He confirmed that this first attachable bow will be installed on to Alfons Håkansoperated ASD tugboat Calypso, scheduled to operate in Finland for the winter season from the end of this year and into 2020. “Alfons Håkans was awarded a 10-year contract by the Finnish Transport Agency to conduct inland waterway icebreaking in Lake Saimaa area with our first removable bow,” said Mr Lehtonen. This involves keeping inland waterways in east Finland open to shipping throughout the year.
Tug Technology & Business | 1st Quarter 2019
A 3D design illustrates how an ILS hull would be attached to a tug for icebreaking operations
WE HAVE DESIGNED AND ICE-MODEL TESTED TWO REMOVABLE BOW SIZES”
In preparation, ILS created 3D illustrations covering the combined tug Calypso and icebreaking bow for the Finnish Transport Agency. This bow should effectively convert a conventional tug into an icebreaker at a fraction of the cost of building a new vessel for this contract. ILS estimates the investment cost of the bow is about 25% of the price of a purpose-built icebreaker. Plus, the construction and conversion periods are shorter than for a newbuilding project and the pusher vessel can be deployed for other duties when there is no ice to break. This ILS P999 self-propelled, icebreaking and attachable bow has a maximum length of 25.3 m, moulded breadth of 12.6 m and moulded depth of 3.4 m. The tug and bow combined will have a maximum length of 41 m. It will be able to break 80 cm of level ice at a speed of 2 knots. If the speed is increased to 6 knots, the tug-bow combination can break 40 cm of level ice in inland waterways. ILS also designed a larger self-propelled attachable icebreaking bow for operations in open sea, such as the Baltic Sea. This has an overall length of 56.1 m, moulded breadth of 25.1 m and propulsion power of two x 3 MW. When combined with a vessel, it could break 87 cm of level ice at a speed of 5.3 knots. Both self-propelled removable bow models are designed with a minimum ice class of 1A
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ICE OPERATIONS | 33
Super. They have a fixed coupling between the bow and the pusher tug. Mr Lehtonen said the propulsion system on each involves two propellers with angled shaftlines, located both sides at the reamer area. The reamer propellers assist in generating icebreaking force and in manoeuvring the bow-vessel combination. “The benefit of the reamer propellers is that they are far from each other,” said Mr Lehtonen. “Therefore, they generate a big turning momentum when thrusting to opposite directions, which makes it possible to turn almost on the spot.” They are useful when the vessel is breaking out of its own channel and breaking ridges of ice. “Reamers increase the width of the ice channel, and thus reduce frictional resistance in the aft-ship, as well as improve the ship’s manoeuvrability in ice,” said Mr Lehtonen. “The channel made by the combined vessel and removable bow is quite wide so the aft can move and the turning occurs when one propeller is pushing and the other pulling.” This performance was demonstrated during ice model trials at Aker Arctic’s testing facilities. During these tests, ILS identified how the reamer propellers interacted with ice. There was a suction and flush effect that broke ice ridges efficiently enabling the vessel to sail through them in one attempt both ahead and astern. ILS developed the removable icebreaking bows with funding from the European Union’s Winter Navigation Motorways of the Sea (WINMOS) programme.
The B24 version for the Baltic Sea was developed in the first phase of the programme. The second phase involves testing the smaller B12 version in Lake Saimaa when it is connected to Calypso. The basic requirements for this are a pusher ice class of 1A Super, ability to break 70 cm of ice at 2 knots, 40 cm at 6 knots and to sail through a 1.5 m consolidated ice channel at 7 knots. The total propulsion power of the pusher tug and removable bow will be about 2.6 MW. ILS has started marketing its attachable bows for icebreaking operations in Canada, Russia and Sweden as there are shallow waterways that are frozen during winter. It has also conducted high profile consulting commissions for Russian and Finnish customers, which are of a classified nature, said Mr Lehtonen, adding that ILS has also completed feasibility studies, repair designs, bollard pull testing and inclination experiments. ILS also designed a new icebreaking escort tug for operations offshore Sakhalin in the Russian Far East. The vessel is being built in a shipyard in Yangzhong, China, and was due to be delivered in Q1 2019. Mr Lehtonen said the project is on schedule, with the vessel launched at the Chinese shipyard. It is based on the design of 2014-built harbour icebreaker and escort tug IB Ahto. In the past five years, ILS has worked with the VTT Technical Research Centre in Finland and Arctech Helsinki Shipyard on icebreaking vessels and provided designs to Baltic Workboats. TTB
ILS REMOVABLE BOW DETAILS Small model: Length, oa: 25.3 m Breadth, moulded: 12.6 m Depth, moulded: 3.6 m Icebreaking: 80 cm, 2 knots Higher speed: 40 cm, 6 knots Large model: Length, oa: 56.1 m Breadth, moulded: 25.1 m Depth, moulded: 6 m Icebreaking: 87 cm at 5.3 knots Propulsion power 2 x 3 MW
The tug and bow combined will have a length of 41 m and could break 80 cm of level ice at 2 knots
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Tug Technology & Business | 1st Quarter 2019
34 | ICE OPERATIONS
Icebreaking challenges overcome through fleet renewal Finnish icebreaker Alfons Håkans has bought modern icebreaking tugs to extend its capabilities of keeping shipping lanes clear in the Baltic
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ne of the biggest challenges for icebreakers and tugs operating in the Baltic region is tackling piled-up ice, sometimes cracking their way through ice stacked to more than 7 m high in shipping channels. This is one of the main tests in icebreaking, according to Alfons Håkans manager of health, safety, environment and quality Kimmo Lehto. The company operates a fleet of icebreakers and icebreaking tugs that keep ports and shipping channels clear of ice in Estonia, Finland and Sweden, also assisting with salvage and distressed ships. “We have long term contracts with Finnish Traffic Agency and Swedish Maritime Administration for icebreaking in the sea area between Finland and Sweden,” Capt Lehto told Tug Technology & Business. He said the fleet is continuously upgraded and renewed to keep up with the challenges faced in ice towage and icebreaking. The extreme cold weather conditions crew operate in, the increasing size of assisted vessels and stricter timetables are setting new demands on the fleet. “The challenges are different but one of the main ones, even for the state-owned icebreakers, is when the ice moves with the wind and piles up to ridges up to 8 m high,” said Capt Lehto. Ice has the potential to damage propellers, main engines and hull plating. It limits the speed and manoeuvrability of tugs and increases the collision risk between vessels and structures. Another concern is keeping seafarers and staff trained to maintain high quality operations in all situations. Alfons Håkans added azimuth stern drive (ASD) tug Pallas in December 2018 to strengthen its fleet in the Gulf of Finland. This vessel took the name of an old tug the operator sold in December 2017. Also in 2018, Alfons Håkans added conventional icebreaking tug Hurtig and ASD tug Poseidon to its fleet. Hurtig was brought from Sweden in July to be stationed in Uusikaupunki, Finland, to increase harbour icebreaking capacity. Alfons Håkans acquired tugboat Osman Gazi from Turkey and renamed it Poseidon, then stationed it in Estonia. It sold barge Scanbarge and tug Helios in July 2018 and conventional tug Fram in January 2019. Fleet renewal is required to meet the changing
Tug Technology & Business | 1st Quarter 2019
Alfons Håkans operates a fleet of icebreaking ASD tugs, such as 26-m Triton in Baltic ports
requirements of its clients. In 2018, Alfons Håkans renewed its contract with Finnish Transport Infrastructure Agency to use Zeus for icebreaking and emergency towage for another seven years. Zeus was on standby in Turku from the beginning of January, until the end of April. It usually operates in the Bothnian Sea and Kvarken areas. Icebreaker Thetis was mobilised in January to Luleå, Sweden, for icebreaking duties in the Bay of Bothnia and assisting vessels bound for Swedish ports. It will be contracted to the Swedish Maritime Administration until mid-April. “Thetis starts in the north and continues south according to the changing ice situation,” said vessel captain Mikael Stude. “Our preparations have gone better than expected,” he said. “Because of windy weather on the Bay of Bothnia the ice situation is still moderate. It will be interesting to see how the sea will freeze.” Later this year, a powerful icebreaking tug with hybrid propulsion will begin services in the Gulf of Bothnia, from the Port of Luleå. It is built to a Robert Allan design and with Wärtsilä’s HYTug hybrid power systems. TTB
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DECK MACHINERY | 37
US Navy adds to deck equipment supplier orderbooks The US Navy's drive to upgrade its tugboat fleet to support naval ship movements and salvage is behind a wave of new orders for deck machinery for vessels constructed at US shipyards
JonRie InterTech has supplied towing systems to the US Navy’s YT 802 class of tugs
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OUR NAVAL SYSTEMS ARE DEVELOPED FROM COMMERCIALLY PROVEN DESIGNS THAT ARE EXTENSIVELY TESTED IN OPERATION”
acGregor and JonRie InterTech have secured contracts for deck machinery on several US Navy tugs this year and in Q4 2018. Gulf Island Shipyards has selected Cargotec's MacGregor to provide deck machinery for a T-ATSX-class vessel currently under construction for the US Navy’s Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA). The T-ATSX, being built at Gulf Island’s Louisiana, US-based yard, is a towing, salvage and rescue vessel designed for worldwide naval service deployments including open-ocean towing, submarine rescue and salvage support operations. The class's design is based around those employed in commercial offshore towing vessels, and it will replace the T-ATF and T-ARS 50-class vessels the US Military's Sealift Command currently operates. NAVSEA needs the vessel to have a minimum bollard pull rating of 118 tonnes. To meet this, MacGregor will provide a deck machinery package that includes a main towing and traction winch, offshore crane, Triplex shark jaws, towing and pop-up pins and a stern roller.
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MacGregor’s vice president of advanced offshore solutions Høye Høyesen said: “Our naval systems are developed from commercially proven designs that are extensively tested in operation.” "They include proven performance characteristics, combined with innovative technology developed to meet today's needs for higher efficiency and lower environmental impact”. The contract also covers crew training and integrated logistics support. "Naval contracts require specialist service support," said Mr Høyesen. "We have a long history of offering integrated logistics support, which is essential for naval operations and influences equipment design decisions from a reliability and service perspective. We support navies with various logistic support modules to ensure that equipment is cost-effective and optimally available throughout its lifecycle." The order was booked into Cargotec’s Q4 2018 order intake, with equipment planned for delivery during Q1 2020. The contract with Gulf Island Shipyard, a subsidiary
Tug Technology & Business | 1st Quarter 2019
38 | DECK MACHINERY
of Gulf Island Fabrication Inc, includes an option for a further seven vessels. Following on from successes in contract awards in 2018, JonRie InterTech has kicked off 2019 with orders for deck machinery on six more tugs. The New Jersey, US, headquartered company has secured orders to supply machinery to a new generation of shipyard tugs the US Navy has ordered. Dakota Creek Industries is building these six YT-808-class tugs at its facility in Washington state to a Robert Allan Z-Tech 4500 design. These 27.5-m tugs will have total power of 2,690 kW and will be used for manoeuvring naval ships into port and docks. According to JonRie InterTech president Brandon Durar, this contract is a highlight of the company’s recent business. On the bow of each tug will be a JonRie Series 210 heavy duty hawser winch complete with JonRie’s standard render block. Mr Durar said these winches will have the capacity to spool 183 m of 18 cm hawser, a line pull of 9,070 kg, a line speed of 53 m/min and a brake capacity of 136,077 kg. He added that on the stern of these YT-808 tugs, there will be a Series 421 heavy duty capstan with 45,360 kg of bollard capacity. The capstan will have a line pull of almost 70,000 kg and a line speed of 9.1 m/min. In the engineroom, there will be JonRie InterTech-designed and supplied hydraulic power unit, rated at 56 kW with a soft start and load sense system, plus controls and an electronic starter. “To allow ease of trouble shooting, the controls will feature a message centre that will display any faults the system may have incurred,” said Mr Durar. JonRie will also include a standard foot control system to allow the master to operate the winch with hands free operation. JonRie has previously supplied the deck equipment for the Navy’s YT 802 and YT 800-class tugs. In 2018, JonRie supplied hydraulic TriWinch on tugs built for Seabulk Towing. Master Boat Builders of Bayou La Batre, Alabama, built the Rotortug vessels – Trident, Triton and Trinity – to a Robert Allan ART 80-98US-design. These have Tri-Winch hawser winch drums with capacity to spool 165 m of 20.3 cm hawser and a towing drum with capacity to spool 700 m of 58 mm line. All JonRie designs use a direct-drive Hagglunds hydraulic motor.
Tug Technology & Business | 1st Quarter 2019
Icebreaking tugs require specialist equipment
TO ALLOW EASE OF TROUBLE SHOOTING, THE CONTROLS WILL FEATURE A MESSAGE CENTRE THAT WILL DISPLAY ANY FAULTS THE SYSTEM MAY HAVE INCURRED”
Schoellhorn-Albrecht is supplying VFD windlasses and capstans for icebreaking tugs that will opperate in the St Lawrence Seaway (credit: Schoellhorn-Albrecht)
Schoellhorn-Albrecht has completed several noteworthy contracts in recent months. In February 2019, the St Louis, Missouribased company completed a contract to design, manufacture and supply deck machinery for icebreaking tugs that will work in the St Lawrence Seaway. This includes windlass and capstans with variable frequency drive (VFD). These were supplied to an ice class, Z-drive tug St Lawrence Seaways is operating for icebreaking and icemanagement services. This tug will also handle buoys, push buoy and gate lifter barges on the St Lawrence Seaway. Schoellhorn-Albrecht supplied a vertical anchor windlass and through-deck capstan with a VFD control package, a right-angle drive gearbox, 15-kW marine duty motor and 45-cm diameter barrel. The windlass was designed to ABS standards for a minimum design temperature of -32˚C. Testing and certification was witnessed by ABS at Schoellhorn-Albrecht’s facility in Missouri. The controls to the deck equipment were enclosed in Nema 4 stainless steel units to protect them from ice during lowtemperature operations. In October 2018, the company completed a contract to design and manufacture a throughdeck vertical capstan for the United States Army Corps of Engineers’ pusher tug Gelberman. The capstan was designed and manufactured for the pusher, and is intended to operate in severe marine duty environments. It is powered by a two-speed 5HP motor and has a bollard pull rating of 22.68 tonnes. In the same month, Schoellhorn-Albrecht produced two replacement hydraulic vertical anchor windlasses for TSV-4 Naragansett, a 1979-built tug in service with the US Navy’s sealift command. The anchor windlasses are both driven by a dedicated hydraulic power unit (HPU) and hydraulic control circuit. Both the windlasses and the HPU were retrofit replacements and had to be engineered to fit into space constraints from older units and also comply with class ABS. Each windlass was constructed with a cast steel wildcat suitable for a 5.08-cm
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DECK MACHINERY | 39
anchor chain, a manual band brake, a wildcat clutch, a 61-cm diameter warping head for mooring lines and a chain stripper. A 30HP axial-piston hydraulic motor is contained within the units, which provides a continuous chain pull of 12.47 tonnes at 0.1 metres per second. The warping head can deliver 13.49 tonnes of line pull at a line speed of 0.09 metres per second. The HPUs power the vertical anchor windlass/capstan for each windlass with a 30-hp electric motor at 1,800 rpm. They are controlled remotely with electric-overhydraulic push-button controls, allowing for variable speeds of the windlasses up to a maximum of 0.1 m per second. The HPUs can be started locally or remotely depending on whether the crew are undertaking maintenance or using it for anchoring or mooring. They were fabricated with custom 0.23 m3 reservoirs and a bolt-together skid, allowing the unit to fit through a 0.76 m2 hatch. ABS inspected the anchor windlasses prior to delivery to Narragansett. DMT supplied deck machinery to the Delicay-series of tugs that Sanmar built for Svitzer, in Turkey. DMT delivered electricdriven winches for escort operations for Svitzer Meridian and Svitzer Vale. These were built in 2018 to an adapted Robert Allan TRAktor 2500-SX design and to ABS class requirements for towing operations in northern Europe. For Svitzer Meridian, DMT delivered type TW-021-E electric, double-drum towing winch for the aft working deck. This winch has a force of 250 kN at a low speed of 9 m/min, or 80 kN at a high speed of 28 m/min. It also has a brake-holding load of 190 tonnes. DMT has also supplied deck machinery to a multipurpose tug built to a Damen design for a joint venture between Dutch Dredging and Iskes Towage & Salvage. Since its delivery in Q3 2018, Fregate has operated in ports in French Guiana. This tug has an AK30 HE2 deck crane supplied by HS Marine with capacity of 2 tonnes at 9.2 m. Also on deck is a TWE350KN electric-driven forward winch supplied by DMT. This has a double drum with one of these pulling 42-44 tonnes at a speed of 8 m/min or 14 tonnes at 24 m/min. Fregate also has an aft winch with a single split drum with Dyneema rope for lowering the dredging arm. TTB
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Deck machinery supplier marks half-century Ibercisa is working through a record number of deck machinery contracts this year as it celebrates its 50th anniversary. The company was formed in 1969 for designing, manufacturing and supplying machinery, initially for the Spanish fishing fleet. It has since expanded into international markets and the tug sector. In 2018, Ibercisa was selected to supply deck machinery on tugs being built in Brazil by Detroit Brasil, Turkey by Sanmar and Uzmar shipbuilders, China by Cheoy Lee and by Damen worldwide. For example, Ibercisa has supplied deck machinery to tugs built by Cheoy Lee in China and Hong Kong. This included double-drum escort towing winches for SST Grizzly and SST Orca tugs, which were brought into service by SAAM Smit Towage Canada. These winches have an active haul-in and pay-out constant tension system, and data logging to time when to replace the 72 mm diameter Amsteel Blue synthetic towlines. For Detroit Brasil, Ibercisa is supplying equipment for eight tugboats under construction for the Starnav Serviços Marítimos fleet. The contract includes supplying a complete hydraulically driven deck machinery package for each tug, including a forward escort towing winch, aft towing winch, capstans, chain stoppers and the hydraulic power packs. Delivery was scheduled to start in 2018, continuing through 2019 and 2020.
Cheoy Lee Shipyards orders deck machinery for escort and harbour tugs MacGregor has been chosen to fulfil orders for deck machinery for four escort tugs and four harbour tugs from Hong Kong-based Cheoy Lee Shipyards. The order scope includes compact and high-performance escort winches, anchor windlasses, towing winches, hydraulic power packs and power take-off systems. Delivery is planned on a rolling schedule, commencing in Q2 2019 and finishing in Q3 2019. The 32-m long tugs will operate in India, southeast Asia and other regions, and the winches in the package have been especially designed to maximise vessel performance by minimising weight. MacGregor’s senior manager of sales and marketing Terry Onn said: “Our deck handling solution uses a simplified structural design to reduce winch weights and improve control panel construction. "The reduced weight and dimensions of the winch deliver a 10% increase in vessel speed during forward tows, offering a considerable operational advantage to the customer." MacGregor’s vice president for advanced offshore solutions said: “We understand that detailed consideration of vessel operation and design is key to providing an optimum solution. “For this reason, we work closely with ship designers and shipyards to provide solutions that fully meet customer requirements.” The orders were booked into MacGregor’s parent company Cargotec's Q4 2018 order intake. MacGregor has a long relationship with Cheoy Lee Shipyards, supplying deck machinery for various vessels.
Tug Technology & Business | 1st Quarter 2019
40 | CLASSIFICATION
Future tugs will have LNG and hybrid propulsion
Gijsbert de Jong: LNG is a stepping-stone to developing non-carbon based fuels such as hydrogen and ammonia
M
ore tugboat newbuildings will be fuelled by LNG and/or hybrid propulsion in the future to reduce emissions. But there would need to be more economic incentives to build fleets of green tugs and ultimately, LNG could be a stepping-stone to developing non-carbon based fuels in the future. These were some of the forecasts that Bureau Veritas marine marketing and sales director Gijsbert de Jong made at a presentation in London in January. He said there had been increasing numbers of orders at shipyards for gas-fuelled vessels and investment in LNG bunkering infrastructure. This would encourage more owners to consider LNG for future projects. Mr de Jong also described increased interest in hybrid
WE ARE DOING PILOT PROJECTS TO GET A REGULATORY FRAMEWORK READY FOR THESE DEVELOPMENTS Tug Technology & Business | 1st Quarter 2019
propulsion on vessels, highlighting projects involving tugs and offshore windfarm support vessels as examples. Bureau Veritas’ newly appointed executive vice president for maritime and offshore Matthieu de Tugny said there would be more LNG ships and bunkering vessels built in the future. He described construction of a new LNG bunkering vessel for Mitsui OSK and Total in China as an example of what is expected. This vessel will provide LNG bunkering from Zeebrugge, Belgium, from 2020. Mr de Jong highlighted three LNG-fuelled escort tugs that Bureau Veritas classed for operations at Equinor’s LNG production plant and export terminal in northern Norway in 2017 as examples of tug projects for the future. He also outlined a joint industry project that Bureau Veritas was involved in for designing a green tug with fuel cells and batteries. This 32-m tug was designed for harbour operations and with around 60 tonnes of bollard pull. However, this tug was not built for any customers because there was no economically viable case for it, said Mr de Jong. However, LNG is seen as a step towards developing hydrogen and ammonia-based fuels for the future of shipping and tugs. Mr de Jong said there would be “multiple pathways” for reducing carbon emissions from shipping and harbour operations. “We need to consider different propulsion, such as fuel cells, hydrogen, ammonia and biofuels,” he said. “We are doing pilot projects to get a regulatory framework ready for these developments.” These futures are for newbuilding projects beyond 2025, so that, for the time being, LNG and hybrid propulsion are the best methods of reducing emissions, both Mr de Jong and Mr de Tugny concluded. TTB
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CLASSIFICATION | 41
Class approval enables future hybrid tug construction
C
lass approval by ABS will open the market for more hybrid propulsion tugboats. ABS has granted approval in principle (AIP) for Rolls-Royce’s hybrid propulsion system for tractor tugs. This approval was offered after inspecting the hybrid propulsion system on Baydelta Maritime’s new tractor tug that has been built by Nichols Brothers Boat Builders in the US for assisting the new generation of ultra-large container ships. This tug was designed by Jensen Maritime and constructed to comply with ABS rules for building and classing steel vessels of under 90 m (updated in 2018). It also complies with ABS Advisory on Hybrid Electric Power Systems (2017) and ABS Guidance Notes on Review and Approval of Novel Concepts. Nichols Brothers anticipated this tug would be delivered in Q1 2019 to Baydelta, when it will enter service at
US west coast container terminals. ABS approved Rolls-Royce's hybrid propulsion system on this tug. This consists of power take-in (PTI) units, electric motors, and main propulsion engines. These are connected to RollsRoyce azimuth thrusters. Hybrid units enable tugs to be operated in either a diesel-mechanical, diesel-electric or boost mode configurations. Rolls-Royce senior vice president for commercial marine in the Americas, Griff Lane, said Baydelta’s hybrid tug will be capable of safe and reliable operations and maximum bollard pull. “Our hybrid system enhances the tug’s escort capability, providing assist support to the ultra-large containerships that operate from US West Coast ports,” he said. “The key benefit of a hybrid configuration is that it reduces the power requirement,” Mr Lane continued. “Typically, a tug the size
Baydelta will operate this new hybrid tug in US west coast ports for container ship handling
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of the Baydelta vessel would need a power output 2,500 kW. The hybrid arrangement allows operators to achieve the required bollard pull from a smaller engine. “It provides greater operational flexibility which allows for the system to provide improved fuel efficiency, redundancy, and reduced emissions,” he explained. ABS’ approval helps confirm the safety and functionality of the RollsRoyce hybrid tug concept, said RollsRoyce vice president for integrated ship systems Atle David Monsen. Integration between engines, electrical equipment, thrusters and automation systems is crucial in hybrid vessels. “With a system integrator the risk and complexity for both owner and yard is significantly reduced,” said Mr Monsen. For the Baydelta tug, Rolls-Royce supplied all electric motors, shaft generators and a power management and control system. This hybrid arrangement provides power to a pair of US255 azimuth thrusters, which feature ducted fixed pitch propellers and are able to be rotated 360˚ around the vertical axis. Rolls-Royce said this arrangement optimises omni-directional thrust and manoeuvrability and improves the crash stop capability of a tug. In August, Rolls-Royce launched a lithium-ion based energy storage system for use in marine applications including tugs and offshore support vessels. ABS has co-operated with Jensen Maritime this year to develop methods of using 3D models of tugs for class approval of vessel designs. TTB
Tug Technology & Business | 1st Quarter 2019
Østensjø Rederi operates three LNG-fuelled escort tugs in Hammerfest (credit: Astilleros Gondan)
Østensjø Rederi has an eye for growth in towage Towage activities are the most profitable division in the Østensjø Group and can become a platform for future investment
Ø
stensjø Rederi is considering expanding its towage business after a profitable year and a new terminal support contract. The Norwayheadquartered group operates a fleet of 12 tugs and eight mooring launches in its marine services business. It also operates a fleet of vessels that support the offshore oil and gas and renewables industries, mostly in the North Sea region, but its towage fleet has become the most profitable part of the group and provides growth opportunities. Østensjø Rederi chief executive Kenneth Walland said all of the company’s tugs and mooring vessels are on long-term contracts. “Our niche is mainly operations at oil and gas terminals, escorting and towage, as well as the emergency response functions in case of oil spills,” he said. Mr Walland is confident the towage market will remain positive and profitable. “The fleet made decent profits last year and it looks good going forward,” he said. This should be a platform for expanding its services in the future. “Given the fleet we have, we would like to see further growth in the years to come,” said Mr Walland. “We continuously monitor the opportunities that open up in this market.” That growth may come from outside Norway, where
Tug Technology & Business | 1st Quarter 2019
Østensjø operates a strong fleet of nine tugs providing mooring services at gas export terminals. Østensjø has towage operations in the UK with three tugs registered in Southampton. These are 2008-built Apax and 2007-built Phenix, both tractor tugs with Voith Schneider propulsion, 2012-built azimuth reverse tractor tug Lomax and mooring launches. But, as a contract award in November 2018 demonstrated, there are also opportunities for the existing fleet in Norway. Østensjø signed a contract renewal with Norske Shell for tug services at the Nyhamna terminal, between Ålesund and Molde on the west coast. It has served this terminal since 2007 and this contract renewal extends this until Q4 2023. There are options to extend this contract for another four years. Under this contract, Østensjø will manoeuvre and assist liquefied petroleum gas tankers that berth at the Nyhamna terminal. It will employ azimuth reverse tractor tugs 2008built Vivax and 1994-built Silex, plus 2007-built mooring launches Max and Obelix, during tanker calls. Østensjø is responsible for tanker loading operations, employing 15 people for mooring and other terminal services and provides shore-based loading master functions. Mr Walland said this contract renewal was “proof of the value of the long-
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OPERATOR PROFILE | 43
ØSTENSJØ REDERI FLEET 6 azimuth reverse tractor tugs 6 VSP tractor tugs 8 mooring launches 4 offshore wind support vessels 8 offshore support vessels
term relations we have established with our charterers”. The Norwegian operator also provides towage, escort and berthing services at Equinor’s LNG production plant and export terminal on Melkoya Island, near Hammerfest in northern Norway. For this, Østensjø operates three LNGfuelled azimuth reverse tractor tugs – Audax, Dux and Pax – that it brought into service in 2017. This was a considerable investment in terminal tugs, set against long-term charters with Equinor. However, Østensjø demonstrated that it could successfully tackle technical challenges in escort tug design, classification, construction and operations. This was achieved in partnership with naval architect Robert Allan, shipyard Astilleros Gondan and classification society Bureau Veritas. Further investment across the company could be hampered by the group’s finances, which have been impacted in the last four years by the downturn in the offshore oil and gas sector. Østensjø Rederi chief financial officer Håvard Framnes said the group is unlikely to generate a profit in 2018 because of the continued low rates in offshore oil and the fact that two of its vessels in that sector were out of service during the year. “On the other side, the towage segment is doing very well and has become the most profitable part of the group,” he said. Østensjø’s finances were secured through a reorganisation of the legal structure of the group in the last two years. Mr Framnes said the company “had a sustainable debt level and a satisfactory cash position, this makes the
group financially relatively well positioned”. However, he followed this by stating that “it will be important to continue the restrictions on expenses and investments” to overcome the challenges ahead. These will continue to come from the group’s offshore oil and gas support activities where the market remains tough for owners, but less in renewables and towage. Which means, as Mr Walland said, Østensjø will be ready to take advantage of any growth opportunities that come its way in the towage sector.
Østensjø marine services portfolio
Østensjø Rederi operates a fleet of six azimuth reverse tractor tugs and six other tractor tugs with Voith Schneider Propulsion (VSP), plus eight mooring launches. All of its tugs are equipped with oil recovery and fire-fighting systems for immediate deployment in an environmental emergency. With this fleet, it is able to provide the following services: • Escort • Towage • Mooring operations • Rig moves • Pollution control and oil spill recovery • Salvage • Fire-fighting • Shore operations, such as loading master • Towmaster Six of the tug fleet are registered in the port of Haugesund, of which four VSP tractor tugs –Ajax, Tenax, Velox and Vortex – support operations at Equinor’s Sture oil terminal at Hordaland. Two azimuth reverse tractor tugs also registered in Haugesund – Silex and Vivax – provide support at the Nyhamna liquefied petroleum gas export terminal in western Norway. Another three azimuth reverse tractor tugs – Audax, Dux and Pax – operate in Hammerfest. Its Solent Towage subsidiaryoperates three tugs – Apax, Lomax and Phenix – in Southampton, UK. It can provide shore teams for terminal and port operations. TTB
ØSTENSJØ REDERI TUG FLEET TUG
TYPE
YEAR BUILT
REGISTERED PORT
BOLLARD PULL
Ajax
VSP tractor
2000
Haugesund
93
Apex
VSP tractor
2008
Southampton
67
Phenix
VSP tractor
2007
Southampton
68
Tenax
VSP tractor
2006
Haugesund
67
Velox
VSP tractor
2005
Haugesund
65
Vortex
VSP tractor
2010
Haugesund
73
Audax
azimuth reverse tractor
2017
Hammerfest
100
Dux
azimuth reverse tractor
2017
Hammerfest
107
Lomax
azimuth reverse tractor
2012
Southampton
80
Pax
azimuth reverse tractor
2017
Hammerfest
108
Silex
azimuth reverse tractor
1994
Haugesund
62
Vivax
azimuth reverse tractor
2008
Haugesund
80
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Tug Technology & Business | 1st Quarter 2019
44 | BUSINESS TRANSACTIONS
Acquisitions demonstrate towage growth potential Asset purchases and joint venture business illustrate towage opportunities in Alaska, Europe, South America and Australia
T
hree business deals in Q1 2019 highlighted three different growth opportunities in the tug sector. One demonstrated the potential for business in the Arctic, another indicated investment in South America and a third brought more experience into Australian towage. Chile-headquartered Sociedad Matriz SAAM is set to acquire Royal Boskalis Westminster (Boskalis)’s equity stake in the SAAM Smit Towage joint venture for US$201M. SAAM will acquire 49% of the business in Mexico, Panama and Canada and 50% in Brazil. In aggregate, these operations reported revenue of US$205M in 2018 and had an enterprise value of US$560M. SAAM chief executive Macario Valdés said it was time to “take another step forward” in his company’s growth and operations as towage is a core area of its business. He expects SAAM will “play an important role in consolidating and growing this industry” as it already operates in 60 ports in the Americas. “We perform over 100,000 towage manoeuvres each year. Every five minutes, we begin a new manoeuvre somewhere in the Americas. This is a business we want to strengthen and develop for the future,”
TUGS Sag Wind Kuparuk Wind Kavik Wind Colville Wind
Mr Valdés commented. Boskalis and Kotug International announced they would sell their European harbour towage joint venture, Kotug Smit Towage, to Boluda Group in March this year in response to tough market conditions. In Australia, Boskalis subsidiary Smit Lamnalco has formed a joint venture with Engage Marine to collaborate on towage services. These companies will jointly develop future business in Australia, but will continue to operate existing business independently from this newly formed venture. Engage operates five tugs in Port Jackson and the Port of Geelong. In January 2019, Foss Maritime subsidiary Cook Inlet Tug & Barge acquired assets operated by Crowley in northern Alaska. This included tugs, barges, heavy machinery and other vehicles operating in Prudhoe Bay, Alaska. At the time of the deal, Foss chief executive and president John Parrott said this purchase “offered us the opportunity to expand our Alaska operations” and that part of the attraction was the assets already positioned on the North Slope. Cook Inlet Tug & Barge senior business development director Mike O’Shea said the tug and barge shallow draught design
made them ideal for operations on the North Slope and that “the vessels are all in excellent condition”. This acquisition includes four tugs, of which three have an overall length of 19.5 m and 817 kW of power. These each have three Caterpillar CAT 343D engines and 1 m draught. The fourth tug, renamed Colville Wind, has 14.6 m length, 545 kW of power, two CAT 3408 engines and 1 m draught. Foss communications manager Loren Skaggs told Tug Technology & Business that the deal also included purchasing five barges and heavy equipment for shoreside support, including a 350-tonne crane. Following the acquisition, Cook Inlet Tug & Barge intends to streamline its operations by partnering with established shoreside service providers in Prudhoe Bay. Mr Skaggs said Foss already has assets in the Arctic, to support mining operations and oil projects in Alaska and northern Canada. “We are using the winter months to identify and engage with potential customers, and to plan for work to be performed in Q2 and Q3 2019. These assets will help us perform a variety of work in Alaska and Canada,” he said. TTB
PREVIOUS NAME
POWER
MAIN ENGINES
Loa
BREADTH
DRAUGHT
Sag River
817 kW
(3) x CAT 343D
19.5 m
8.2 m
1m
Kuparuk River
817 kW
(3) x CAT 343D
19.5 m
8.2 m
1m
Kavik River
817 kW
(3) x CAT 343D
19.5 m
8.2 m
1m
Ballaya Kuropatka
545 kW
(2) x CAT 3408
14.6 m
6.9 m
1m
Tug Technology & Business | 1st Quarter 2019
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