June 4 - A new tug suitable for offshore and deep sea heavy lift towage operations was unveiled by Damen Shipyards at the International Tug and Salvage Convention (ITS) in Barcelona, Spain.
This innovative and powerful tug in the 85 ton BP range is the result of three years of research and represents a completely new Damen ship type and a milestone in ASD tug design.
The new Damen ASD Tug 3212 has a maximum bollard pull of 85 ton, sails at 14.5 knots and can operate in three metre wave heights. Other features include super-absorbent fenders and a new Render/Recovery winch. Four of the new 3212s have been delivered to clients in Australia, Colombia and The Netherlands and 10 are currently under construction.
Coen Boudesteijn, Damen product director tugs, comments: "Damen has developed this completely new tug generation within the 85 ton bollard pull range to fit in with market developments. Many projects for tug operators are now in more open and challenging waters, such as those off Northern Australia, so there is aneed to be able to cope with higher wave heights and for more powerful tugs, given the increasing size of tankers and container vessels."
The Damen ASD Tug 3212, which has a capacity for a maximum crew of 10, is built to comply with all of the very latest IMO and MLC 2006 crew and comfort regulations. Noise and vibrations are kept to a minimum due to flexibly mounted main engines and flexible drive couplings. The accommodation and wheelhousehave a floating floor to keep noise levels within 55 dB and vibration levels to a minimum.
Multratug 19
Meanwhile, Damen ASD client Multraship, one of the first clients to express interest in the new design, showcased the Multratug 19 at the ITS.
This vessel is one of the new ASD Tugs in the 80 ton bollard pull range and the first with the standard propulsion installation of 5050 kW. During its sea trials, the Multratug 19 achieved 85 ton bollard pull (BP) and a speed of almost 15 knots.
Leading towage and salvage specialist Multraship is to take delivery of the new design of ASD 3212 tug from the Galati, Romania yard of the Damen Shipyards Group.
The new ASD 3212 Multratug 19 has been built to a completely new design specification developed after a period of intensive research. Multraship's specification called for a tug with minimum 80 ton BP, able to serve specific market segments. During its initial sea trials, Multratug 19 achieved over 83 tons BP and a speed of almost 15 knots. Final tests will be carried out in The Netherlands. The new design has been thoroughly researched over an extensive period, resulting in a tug that canperform to maximum efficiency in rough weather conditions.
Multratug 19 is the second vessel to be built by Damen for Multraship, following the 2010 delivery of the newbuilding ASD3213 tug, Multratug 3, built at Damen's Vietnam yard.
Leendert Muller, managing director of Multraship, says: "This is an industry which requires continuing investment in order to provide the level of expertise and service which our clients need and demand. This new order confirms Multraship's commitment to investing in new tonnage, and new technology, and we are pleased to be working once again with Damen Shipyards, following our previous successful collaboration on Multratug 3."
