Boustead-Macduff’s Teamwork Continues to Bear Fruit

The ongoing collaboration arrangement between the Boustead Heavy Industries Group (BHIG) in Malaysia and Macduff Ship Design in Scotland, initially signed in June 2011, continues to reap rewards.

North Tugz of Northport, MarsdenPoint, New Zealand has placed an order for a new design 17m Macduff harbour tug with BHIG. The vessel will be built at Boustead’s Langkawi Shipyard.

The towing company originally approached Macduff in 2012 enquiring about the successful 16m “Sally Mcloughlin” class of tug but with an increased bollard pull. Macduff produced a new design to the specific requirements of North Tugz and worked in conjunction with Boustead who tendered the complete project.

Macduff had to satisfy the requirements of the client and Bureau Veritas (BV) in addition to the stringent stability regulations of Maritime New Zealand, to ensure the new design would be suitable for operations in NZ waters.

With an overall length of 17m, beam of 8m and aft draft of 3.4m the vessel will have a bollard pull of 28 tonnes from her twin Cat C 32 main engines and fixed nozzles. Capacities have been maximized to ensure a large operating window with 19,000 litres of fuel and 3,400 litres of fresh water.

Deck machinery will comprise a 30t forward towing winch, 30t aft towing hook, 2t aft tugger winch and a deck crane with a capacity of 2.15t @7.8m. Manoeuvrability will be enhanced with twin high performance rudders and an 800 kgs thrust bow thruster. Design and layout generated efficiencies and equipment of the vessel mean she will be operated by a crew of 2.

This order marks the first entry into New Zealand for both Boustead and Macduff and was won in the face of major international competition. The companies are jointly working on a wide range of commercial designs from 12m to 85m, in steel and aluminium, for various tenders.

[mappress]
Press Release, February 26, 2014