Tug owners in the Middle East are modernising their fleets to meet rising maritime trade in expanding ports
Owners in the Middle East and North Africa are ordering new harbour and escort tugs with greater power to handle large ships in busy regional ports. Middle East shipyards are benefiting from orders from state-run organisations reacting to port expansions.
United Arab Emirates (UAE) Abu Dhabi (AD) Ports Group’s marine arm Safeen ordered two azimuth stern drive (ASD) tugs from Turkish shipbuilders Sanmar Shipyards and Med Marine.
Sanmar supplied a Sirapinar-series tug Semaih, built to Robert Allan Ltd (RAL) RAmparts 2200 design to Safeen March 2022. It has Caterpillar Cat 3512C main engines driving two azimuth drives to give Semaih 50 tonnes of bollard pull ahead and 45 tonnes astern.
Previous deliveries to Safeen by Sanmar include three smaller RAL RAscal 1800 design tugs with 32 tonnes of bollard pull. Al Shaheed entered service 2016, Al Hili 1 joined the fleet 2017 and Jimi 1 was delivered 2018.
Med Marine is completing an ASD tugboat to a MED-A2360 design for Safeen at its Eregli Shipyard in Turkey. This 23-m tug will have a bollard pull of 60 tonnes from a pair of Cat 3512E main engines, each delivering 1,770 kW of power at 1,800 rpm, linked to two Kongsberg US205S thrusters with propellers of 240 cm diameter. Its propulsion will comply with IMO Tier III emissions reduction standards for minimal NOx and particulate matter, reflecting AD Ports Group’s commitment to reduce seaborne and port emissions.
“This latest acquisition reflects our ongoing commitment to invest in pioneering vessel equipment that bolsters our fleet support offering,” says Safeen chief executive Adil Banihammad.
The MED-A2360 tugboat series is based on RAL’s RAmparts 2300-MM design. This is the third time Safeen has ordered or purchased tugs from Med Marine, most recently purchasing an earlier MED-A2360 series tug without the emissions reduction technology mid-2021.
AD Ports chief corporate authority officer and acting head of the maritime cluster Maktoum Al Houqani says these tugs will “greatly enhance our ability to meet the evolving trade demand and address the increasing complexity of logistical operations across the region.”
According to brokers, AD Ports purchased another Med Marine tug, 2021-built Med XXXV and renamed it Barakah 1 in 2021.
Rawabi Vallianz Offshore Services (RVOS), a joint venture between Saudi Arabian diversified conglomerate Rawabi Holding and Singapore-headquartered Vallianz Holdings, has added three tugboats to the fleet. Two of these were built by Albwardy Damen shipyard in Sharjah, UAE. ASD tugs Rawabi Dreamer and Rawabi Victory were built to Damen’s ASD 2811 tug design with an overall length of approximately 29 m and 60 tonnes of bollard pull.
They both feature advanced connectivity, enabling RVOS to monitor and optimise their performance and efficiency. These 299-gt tugs have a beam of 11 m, draught of around 5 m and speed of 13 knots.
RVOS is a leading supplier of offshore services and support in Saudi Arabia and other Middle East nations. It also added 814-gt Rawabi Omega to the fleet after it was built by Jiangsu Suyang Shipyard in China.
In Iraq, Al Raheel Co took delivery of Al Hawraa from Indonesian builder Tuong Aik Shipyard for marine civil construction work. It is supporting Daewoo to construct breakwaters and other facilities at the Al Faw port, near Basra. This 472-gt tug has a length of 32-m, a beam of 11 m, a depth of around 5 m and two Niigata engines producing 3,730 kW of power.
In Pakistan, Port Qasim Authority (PQA) near Karachi expanded its fleet with four harbour tugs and two pilot boats from Sanmar as part of its ongoing investment in the port complex, which includes enlarging Port Muhammad Bin Qasim and opening a new import terminal for LNG to feed Pakistan’s power stations.
Sanmar supplied four of its Kocacay-series ASD tugs to PQA, built to RAL’s RAstar 3200-SX design with bollard pulls ranging 76-86 tonnes. Gharo, Malir and Korangi each have two 2,350-kW main engines. Pipri has two 2,525-kW main engines and a bollard pull of 85 tonnes.
In Egypt, Svitzer has increased the size of its tugboat fleet to six vessels with delivery of two new escort tugs from Turkish builder Med Marine. Svitzer Port Said 3 and Svitzer Suez 3 were built at the Eregli Shipyard to RAL’s RAstar 2800 design as MED-A2885 class vessels. They have an overall length of 28 m, moulded beam of 13 m, draught of 4 m, a speed of 12 knots, a bollard pull of 75 tonnes and fire-fighting capabilities.
In Q3, Med Marine received an order for a new escort tug from Misurata Free Zone (MFZ), Libya, to help dock large commercial ships at the expanding port.
This will be a MED-A2885 class 28-m tugboat with 85 tonnes of bollard pull and a speed of 12 knots. It will be built to a RAstar-2800 design with a beam of 13 m and draught of 6 m.
MFZ is the first free-trade zone established in Libya and is designated by law to host industrial, commercial and service operations for organisations and companies seeking to invest.
UAE’s Grandweld Shipyard is close to completing the first of four new tractor tugs it is building for Specialities Construction Co of Kuwait. It started constructing the first two tugboats January 2022, and in June was installing the Kongsberg Maritime US 205S azimuth thrusters ready for completion Q4 2022.
These four 27-m tugs will be built to RAL’s TRAktor 2700-Z design and Bureau Veritas class, each with a pair of Cat 3512C main engines, each rated at 1,678 kW, generating a bollard pull of 50 tonnes.
Tugs will be equipped with an FFS-supplied off-ship fire-fighting system with two monitors that can deliver up to 2,400 m3/hr of water or 300 m3 of /water mix and will be protected by a water spray system. Grandweld will equip these tugs with a dispersant system and three tanks for storing recovered oil for pollution response.
Grandweld has reduced risks to its shipyard workforce through fire drills, preventative procedures and safety exercises involving builders and ship crews, testing their response to emergencies, as part of the company’s overall safety culture. Grandweld holds monthly HSE meetings and group forums with employees and contractors, to share knowledge.
Also in the UAE, Sea Scarf Co Shipping purchased 2010-built tug STI Pluto (ex Teras Pegasus 2) from Searak Marine and renamed it Sea Scarf 4; it will be operated by Maribo Shipping. Dubai-headquartered Sea Eagles Shipping scrapped 1982-built tug Cyclone and pusher tug 1981-built Ghawar in June 2022.
