February 1977 - Maritime Reporter and Engineering News

Equitable Ships First Tug To Indonesia On Louise Lykes

A new 95-foot oceangoing tug, the Selat Siberut, built by Equitable Shipyards, Inc.

of New Orleans, La., recently was loaded aboard the cargo ship Louise Lykes. The tug was built by Equitable Shipyards for the Government of Indonesia, and will be offloaded by the Lykes ship at Singapore, after approximately 27 days covering approximately 11,500 nautical miles.

The tug has a dry weight of 235 long tons. It was lifted onto the deck of the cargo ship by the 600-ton marine crane Avon, owned by Avondale Shipyards.

The tug is the first of a series of five, and possibly six, that will be completed by Equitable Shipyards and shipped in the same manner to Indonesia. The vessels are being built at the Madisonville, La., Shipyards of the shipbuilding company.

Behring International, an international freight forwarding firm in New Orleans, is in charge of the shipment of the vessels.

The tug Selat Siberut was placed across the beam of the cargo ship, overhanging the sides of the ship enough to prevent the ship from using the Panama Canal for its trip to the Pacific, the normal shipping route into the Far East by Lykes Bros. Steamship Company. So, with the New Orleans-built tug aboard, the Louise Lykes sailed to the Far East via Cape of Good Hope.

The Louise Lykes is a Gulf Clipper-Class ship with a speed of 20 knots, a deadweight tonnage of 14,662 and displacement of 21,840 tons. She has overall dimensions of 540 feet by 76 feet and is highly automated.

The Selat Siberut has overall dimensions of 95 feet by 29 feet with a 13-foot depth.

The tug was built to American Bureau of Shipping Class Maltese Cross A-l towing service, Maltese Cross AMS, with full ocean service, and has an American Bureau of Shipping loadline assignment. The tug is powered by two Caterpillar D-398 Series B turbocharged after-cooled marine diesel engines with Caterpillar 7261 MG reverse reduction gears. Each engine has a continuous duty rating of 850 bhp at 1,225 rpm.

The new vessel will be placed into service by the Indonesian government immediately after its arrival there aboard the Lykes ship. The tug will be used primarily for shiphandling and towing operations.

The contract for the five and possibly six tugs for Indonesia was for an amount in excess of $10 million, and was awarded by the Department of Transport Communications and Tourism of the Republic of Indonesia.

Cecil M. Keeney, president and chief executive officer of Equitable Shipyards, Inc., and Rear Adm. Haryono Nimpuno, Director General of Sea Communications for the Indonesian Government, executed the contract in Jakarta, Indonesia.

Equitable Shipyards, a wholly owned subsidiary of Trinity Industries, Inc., Dallas, Texas, a manufacturer of industrial, marine and structural products, operates two large shipbuilding facilities in the Greater New Orleans area. One of these is at Madisonville, where the five tugs for Indonesia are being built, and the other is in New Orleans on the Industrial Canal.

Other stories from February 1977 issue

Content

Maritime Reporter

First published in 1881 Maritime Reporter is the world's largest audited circulation publication serving the global maritime industry.