Deliveries continue for Damen

In recent weeks Damen Shipyards has handed over the keys to six newbuild tugs, signed an order for two and transported fourteen built-for-stock vessels including Stan Pontoons and tugs from Vietnam to the Netherlands.

As is common when reporting Damen news, the Netherlands-based shipyard’s influence extends across the globe with tugs heading off to new owners in Europe, the Middle East and New Zealand.

Looking first at deliveries and probably about the furthest you can travel from the Netherlands, Port Nelson at the top of New Zealand’s South Island has taken delivery of the ASD Tug 2310 Toia. Port Nelson is typical of many ports experiencing gradual increases in the size of vessels calling with ships of up to 250m length now regular visitors. With the largest tidal range in New Zealand and resultant strong currents the 50tbp ASD 2310 is seen as suitable to handle ships in challenging conditions. Toia was built at Damen’s China facility and entered service following a four-week delivery voyage.

Classed by BV, Toia is 22.73m long on a beam of 10.43m and draught aft 4.62m. Main engines comprise two Caterpillar 3512C TA HD+/C diesels developing 4,023bhp (total) at 1,600rpm and driving Rolls-Royce US 205 Mk1 thrusters with a bollard pull ahead of 50.4t and speed 12.7kn.

A hydraulic split-drum anchor/towing is fitted forward with a pull of 18t and brake load of 130t with towing over the stern from a Mampaey SWL 650Kn towing hook. Accommodation is provided for four persons in one cabin above and two below main deck.

Heading back towards northwest Europe, Italian towing company Fratelli Neri has expanded its fleet with delivery of three different Damen vessels. Its Galati shipyard has completed the ASD 2913 Toscana with a Stan Launch 1305 and Stan Tug 1606 provided from Damen’s Gorinchem facility. The two smaller vessels were supplied from stock and transported to Italy on a heavylift vessel with final outfitting work on all three completed in a timescale of three and a half months.

Toscana will provide harbour assistance duties at Livorno port and modifications from standard versions include fifi1 and oil recovery capabilities along with an aft winch, all to comply with Italian flag regulations. The Stan Tug 1606 named Pacini will operate in shallow waters in coastal and inland areas around Livorno and is also provided with fire-fighting apparatus and aft towing winch. Santa Giuliana is the name of the Stan Launch 1305 delivered to Fratelli Neri subsidiary company Labromare SrL, a 50% owned company providing waste management and anti-pollution services in the region.

This three-vessel order brings the number of Damen vessels delivered to family-owned Fratelli Neri in just over a year to six including two Stan Tug 2608s from Damen Trading and the new ASD 3212 Luisa Neri (see MJ March 2016).

For the next stop in our journey north we call at Cherbourg for a closer look at the ASD 2810 Cherbourg 1 delivered recently to CCI Caen Normandie. The BV-classed tug is equipped for a range of duties including: mooring, towing, salvage services and fire-fighting operations. Main dimensions include: LOA 28.67m, beam 10.43m and draught aft 5m with tank capacities including fuel oil 72.3m3 and fresh water 16.4m.

Main machinery comprises two Caterpillar 3516C TA HD/C main engines developing in total 3,730bkW (5,000bhp) at 1,600rpm powering Rolls-Royce US 205 thrusters delivering a bollard pull (ahead) of 62t and speed 13.5kn. Caterpillar also provide two C4.4 TA, 230/400V, 107kVA, 50Hz gensets and a diesel-driven fire pump of 1,200m3/hr capacity supplying two water/foam monitors on the forward end of the wheelhouse deck.

Two hydraulic towing winches are provided, a combined two-speed, split-drum anchor/towing winch forward (35t pull and 150t brake) and a double-drum towing winch aft with spooling device and 33/35t pull and 143/150t brake load. A Heila HLM 20-3S crane and winch along with a 50t SWL stern roller, WK Hydraulics towing pins and 60m wire capacity tugger winch are also included in the deck machinery fit. Accommodation is provided for seven persons in three single and two double cabins.

Final port of call in the delivery round-up is Helsingborg in Sweden where another ASD Tug 2810 Sund Av Malmö has joined the fleet of Marcon-gruppen/BTÖ. The specification is virtually identical to Cherbourg 1 and while there is no towing winch aft an anchor/towing winch is provided forward.

Turning to orders, at the recent Seatrade Middle East Exhibition in Dubai, Jawar Al Khaleej Shipping LLC (JAK) signed a contract with Damen for the supply of three vessels, a Fast Crew Supplier 5009 and two ASD Tug 3213s. JAK has an extensive fleet of vessels providing services to the offshore oil and gas sector in the Gulf and the two tugs, to be named Jawar Faw and Jawar Um Qasr are being built at Damen’s Song Cam shipyard in Vietnam and with 8,000hp and 85tbp at their disposal will be well-equipped providing shiphandling services for VLCCs at offshore terminals.

Finally, the transportation of tugs and pontoons from Damen’s Song Cam Shipyard to Europe on heavylift vessels is now an established routine and recently SAL Heavy Lift’s Svenja completed such a voyage transporting a range of vessels from Vietnam to Rotterdam.

Fourteen vessels in total made up the cargo including Stan Pontoon 4113, 4111, 4512, 5211 and 6316s loaded close to the shipyard before six Song Cam built tugs also joined the consignment at Ha Long Bay in Vietnam. The economic advantages of transporting such large numbers of vessels in one consignment are obvious and the itinery involved sailing around the Cape of Good Hope rather than via the shorter Suez Canal route, Svenja’s ability to sail at an average of 18.5 to 19 knots resulting in a shorter overall transit time to Rotterdam.