R1.4bn tug contract gets under way

At a special ceremony on Thursday
last week, the “cutting of the first
steel” (the modern day substitute
for “laying the first keel section” of
yesteryear), took place at Durban’s SA
Shipyards.
It marked the start of a R1.4-
billion contract awarded by Transnet
National Ports Authority (TNPA) for
nine state-of-the-art tugboats.
And it is the largest single contract
awarded by TNPA to an SA company
for the building of harbour craft,
according to Tau Morwe, TNPA CE.
The first tug will be launched in
November 2015, he added, while the
last will be handed over in the first
quarter of 2018.These will replace
ageing vessels and increase the fleets
in the ports of Durban, Richards Bay,
Port Elizabeth and Saldanha Bay.
“To meet an almost unprecedented
target of building the nine tugboats
in just 42 months, they will be built
in tandem,” said SA Shipyards CE,
Prasheen Maharaj. This will mean
five tugs will be under construction at
any given time – with varying launch
dates.
The new tugs will be the most
powerful ever to enter TNPA’s service.
Compared to the older-generation
tugs currently in use, which have
a bollard pull* of 40 tonnes and
32.5t, eight of new tugs will have a
70t bollard pull, according to Rufus
Lekala, TNPA chief harbour master.
At 31 metres long, 11.5m wide and
18m high they are also slightly larger
than the existing ones.
“More remarkably,” he added, “the
ninth and final tug to be built will
be 42m long, 15m wide and have a
bollard pull of 100t – matching the
most powerful tugs in the world.”
This increased bollard pull – which
meets international standards – is
designed to handle the increasing
size of commercial vessels calling at
SA.
There is another move to meet the
tight building programme.
The sub-contractors installing
electrical systems, engines and
propulsion units have established
workshops in SA Shipyards’
premises.
*The bollard pull is a means of
measuring in tonnes the maximum
pull that the tug can exert on a
stationary ship or object and is a way
of understanding the available power
of the tug.