Grandweld Shipyards in the UAE completed four escort tugs to Robert Allan Ltd design and Bureau Veritas class
Ship escort operations into the main commercial port of Kuwait have improved with the arrival of four new escort tugs in Q3 2022, after their construction at Grandweld Shipyard in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
These tractor tugs are operated by Specialities Construction (SCC) for operations in Shuwaikh Port, east of Kuwait City.
The four 346-gt harbour tugs have Z-drive propulsion, 50 tonnes of bollard pull, an escort-rated winch, a deck crane and are equipped for oil recovery and firefighting.
Grandweld constructed these tugs to a Robert Allan Ltd (RAL) TRAktor 2700-Z design and Bureau Veritas class.
Ghanim-1, Ghanim-2, Ghanim-3 and Ghanim-4 were designed to perform tasks including ship assist, escort and towing, firefighting, oil pollution response and port services.
“The owner chose Grandweld despite a highly competitive bidding process against a Spanish shipyard, with Grandweld’s price, customised technical offer, fast delivery and demonstrated shipbuilding capabilities the winning factors,” says a spokesman for the shipyard.
He says there were challenges implementing this project due to the Covid-19 pandemic and recent supply-chain disruptions.
“Grandweld used strong relationships with suppliers and proactive project management to ensure the SCC tugs were delivered on time,” says the spokesman.
RAL says it worked closely with the Grandweld Shipyard to develop the customised design of the TRAktor tug series. This resulted in a design with an overall length, excluding fenders, of 27-m, a moulded beam of 11 m, moulded depth of 4 m and maximum draught of just under 6 m.
Power for these four tugs comes from two Caterpillar-manufactured Cat 3512C main engines, each rated at 1,678 kW, driving two Kongsberg US205S P20 Z-drives.
Bureau Veritas classed these vessels as escort tugs with FiFi1 firefighting systems and oil recovery ships with autonomous engineroom operations and in-water survey.
A high standard of outfitting for an operating crew of up to eight is provided, with all accommodation spaces on the main deck and single cabins for the master and chief engineer, three double-seafarer cabins, a galley and mess area.
Grandweld outfitted these tugs with deck machinery for efficient ship handling, escort and harbour towing, including a towing hook on the aft deck and a DMT-supplied hydraulic single-drum, escort towing winch.
DMT also provided a hydraulic anchor mooring windlass and winch at the bow. The escort towing winch is spooled with 600 m of high-performance synthetic towline. A Toimil Marine fully foldable telescopic crane with a 10-m outreach is fitted on the aft deck.
Fire Fighting Systems supplied the FiFi1 units for these four tugs, providing two monitors to deliver up to 2,400 m3/hr of water or 300 m3/hr of /water mix. The tugs are protected by a water spray system when fighting fires.
Each tug is equipped with a dispersant system to assist in oil pollution response and has storage for recovered oil in three onboard dedicated tanks.
RAL added into the design a large hold aft of the engineroom with a shipping hatch and sufficient space to accommodate a workshop and the necessary portable equipment.
These tugs can store 94 m3 of fuel oil, 60 m3 of recovered oil and 31 m3 of potable water, plus they each have capacity for 37 m3 of fresh water, 9 m3 of firefighting foam and 8 m3 of dispersant.
Shuwaikh Port is considered Kuwait’s main commercial port with 21 piers of differing sizes and depth to accommodate a vast array of vessels along a dredged channel of 87 km. The port, operated by Kuwait Ports Authority, receives more than 500,000 containers annually and serves passenger cruise and transport ships.
Investment in hybrid propulsion and IT
Grandweld Shipyards is investing heavily in researching and developing hybrid powering solutions in preparation for orders for tugboats and other vessels with batteries and electric propulsion.
“There will be more focus on sustainability in future, with the long-term goal being renewable energy use in new ships,” says a spokesman for the shipyard, adding Grandweld will soon announce vessel designs with hybrid-power solutions.
Grandweld also invests in its engineering and IT departments, using digital systems to improve productivity and implement innovations.
“Grandweld’s leadership believes strong inhouse capabilities, combined with an excellent organisational culture, results in better teamwork and enhanced communication levels between internal departments,” says the spokesman.
“This is facilitated through constant digital innovation using Grandweld’s proprietary enterprise resource and procurement system that integrates engineering with purchasing, planning, execution and customer communications. All this results in high-quality, fast, cost-effective results.”
