Sanmar Shipyard Celebrates Major Milestone, Turkey

Sanmar Shipyard in Tuzla, Turkey held, on October 5th, a christening ceremony for the world’s first Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) powered escort tug. The first boat, out of two for Norwegian customer Buksér og Berging AS, was named Borgøy.

Also, block erection of tugboat Biso and keel-laying ceremony of another tugboat took place same day as well. Respectively, the vessels comprise a pair of innovative 35m long, 70 tonnes bollard pull LNG-fuelled tugs, a 28m powerful 75 tonnes bollard pull terminal tug and a compact 24.39m ship berthing tug 50 tonnes bollard pull, and 15m line handling tug.

Tugs are usually fuelled by marine diesel oil. However, this fuel produces a number of polluting emissions. The new vessels are designed by the Norwegian tug owner Buksér og Berging AS and are the first tugs to be fuelled by the eco-friendly liquefied natural gas (LNG) to eliminate sulphur emissions, bring particulate matter emissions down close to zero and reduce the discharge of CO2 and NOx by 26 per cent and 80-90 per cent respectively.

Powering each of the new tugs is a pair of lean-burn gas engines from Rolls-Royce Bergen, with a combined output of 3410kW at 1,000 rev/min. These powerful gas engines are particularly robust, with a high degree of reliability and long intervals between overhaul. The lean-burn principle delivers high efficiency coupled with reduced exhaust emissions and low specific energy consumption. The engines are direct coupled to Rolls-Royce azimuthing Z-drives mounted aft in ASD configuration. The propellers have diameters of 3,000mm.

Gas engine technology is not new having been proven in both land-based and large ship installations but the two new 35m LNG fuelled terminal tugs are trailblazers in this sector of the marine market demanding a significant step-forward in technical know-how above that of the average tug building yard. Always at the forefront of innovation and technological advance, Sanmar now has a distinct lead on all other specialist tug building yards in the search for more eco-friendly and economic tug operation.

The tugs are built to DNV Class including Fi-fi and oil recovery as well as escort notation. The tug has a length of 35 m, beam of 15 m and draft of 5.5 m with superior escort capabilities of 100 tonnes steering force at 1o knots. Static Bollard pull is 70 tonnes. The two tugs will operate at Statoils gas terminal at Kaarstoe in Norway. For the ancillary tasks the vessels are fitted with a Schottel 333kw bow thruster whilst the main towing winch, suppplied by Karmoy, has a brake load capacity of 250 tons. A Heila deck crane is also carried.

Onboard accommodation provides two single officer cabins and two twin berth crew cabins, galley, mess room – all to North European standard of comfort and quality including heated floors to all the sanitary spaces. Care has been taken to reduce sound levels throughout the accommodation areas and at 85 per cent engine load, just 65dB is recorded.

Borgøy will enter into service next month following a series of sea trials.

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Shipbuilding Tribune Staff, October 7, 2013