As ships get bigger, tugs and gear follow suit

10/10/2016

By Kirk Moore on October 6, 2016 WorkBoat Magazine

Today, tugs are typically being designed with twice as much power as 20 years ago, renowned designer Robert Allan has said, with bollard pulls likewise escalating. The daunting prospect of handling 18,000-TEU ships is a big driver of that trend.

Washburn & Doughty Associates Inc., East Boothbay, Maine, builds 93’x38’15’5″ Z-drive tugs for Moran Towing and other customers. The shipyard’s executive vice president Bruce Washburn said the 6,500-hp threshold poses a challenge, requiring much bigger Z-drives — 50 tons versus around 30 tons for less powerful tugs.

Seattle-based Jensen Maritime has been designing new escort tugs like the 100’x40′ Brian A. McAllister and Rosemary McAllister, being built for McAllister Towing by Horizon Shipbuilding, Bayou La Batre, Ala. The twin Z-drive, 6,770-hp tugs with 90 short tons bollard pull will be delivered in 2017 for offshore service, ship assist, escort, maneuvering and docking work.

Ridderinkof Winches, Hasselt, Netherlands, has designed a dynamic braking system to help these tugs handle the immense loads of post-Panamax ship escort work.

“On an 18,000-TEU ship, that’s a huge amount of windage,” said company director Paul Schut. For an escort tug near the stern of such a large vessel, pulling a line at a 30° angle, losing control can lead to disaster. “One error and you can pull it (the tug) right over,” he said.

Classification societies are looking for more powerful braking systems. “We decided it’s not there, so let’s start designing it,” Schut said. They came up with a 700-mm solid steel-braking disc that can bring two to three times the braking power of similar-sized winches.

“We’re saying you can do 250 tons (pull) all day,” Schut said. At an estimated cost up to 40,000 euros ($45,000), “that makes it a very cheap escort winch.”