Page 62: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (March 1995)

New tug for London

First "Europatrol" boat goes to Greece

Three leading U.K. marine com- panies have collaborated in the de- sign of a family of offshore patrol vessels to police and protect the maritime frontiers of the EEC. The first, a 154.2-ft. (47-m), 240-ton dis- placement vessel named A.L. 50 has recently entered service with the Greek Customs.

McTay Marine Limited built the vessel based on Vosper Inter- national's Europatrol 250 MK1 de- sign incorporating a three engine propulsion package developed by

GEC-Alsthom Paxman Diesels.

Capable of sustained speeds in ex- cess of 40 knots during long range patrols in offshore conditions ex- ceeding Sea State 6, this first of class has been constructed to IMO,

NATO and USCG criteria.

The hull form, devised by Scot- land based warship specialist Vosper

International, is of modern round bilge semi-displacement type with transom stern, soft nose stem and well flared sections forward termi- nating in a knuckle below the weatherdeck. Hull and deck are of welded mild steel and the super- structure is of welded marine grade aluminum alloy construction. Inno- vative features of the design include a tandem system of spray rails to minimize drag and improve dynamic stability at high speed and noise attenuating caves installed over the propellers to eliminate propeller in- duced hull excitation. The two en- gine rooms are located aft in a fur- ther move to reduce on board noise levels.

Propulsion power is supplied by three 16-cylinder Paxman Valenta high speed diesel engines each de- (Continued on page 65)

A new twin screw tug, Impulse, has recently entered service on the River Thames with the Port of

London Authority (PLA). Al- though a multi-role vessel equipped for ship mooring buoy and chain maintenance operations, one of the new vessel's important tasks will be to push barges full of collected driftwood downstream to a site on the northern side of the estuary for disposal.

Built by David Abels, a Bristol based specialist steel boat builder, the vessel is 46 ft. (14 m) in length with a beam of 17.7ft. (5.4m)and a draft of just under 5 ft. (1.5m). A pair of type 3306B Caterpillar ma- rine diesels each developing 235 bhp at2,000 rpm drive Teignbridge propellers in fixed nozzles through

Twin Disc MG 509 reverse reduc- tion gears with a ratio of 3.39:1.

On trials Jmpulse achieved a static bollard pull of 5.7 tons and man- aged a free running speed just under 10 knots.

The vessel has a substantial pusher frame at the bow, but for conventional tug and buoy han- dling operations, a pair of six ton

Spencer Carter winches are lo- cated at the forward end of the large flush deck area, immediately aft of the raised wheelhouse. The deck curves down towards water level though a wide gap in the transom enabling heavy items to be easily winched aboard.

The steering position is dead central in the forward wheelhouse and the vessel handles particu- larly well, with none of the diffi- culties sometimes associated with pusher tugs with fixed nozzles.

The PLA called in the help of steer- ing specialists Wagner Engineer- ing to devise a power assisted ar- rangement with a failsafe system considered essential in the con- fined waters of the Thames.

The steering system installed was originally developed for the fleet of Cory Environmental tugs also working on the Thames. Com- prising a hydraulic "amplifier" be- tween the wheel pump and the twin rudders, finger tip control is achieved with just three turns of the wheel from hard over to hard over. One of the Caterpillar main engines provides the hydraulic power to the amplifier but should this fail for any reason, it reverts automatically and instantly to a fully manual system.

Driftwood is a major problem on the Thames. The PLA has* a number of both static and active driftwood collection devices oper- ating at well known trouble spots.

This material is loaded into barges, which when full, are towed down river by Impulse. "Over the next decade, 10,000 ships...will need to be replaced9 r« • Kvaerner Invests In Research •

Norwegian shipbuilder Kvaerner is planning to spend $72 million on a major three year research program into marine transport for the year 2000. Such an impressive investment has been prompted, according to the company, by the sinking of the Estonia, which led several shipowners to contact the yard regarding its patented RoRo ferry design which uses transverse watertight doors to divide the car deck. The project will look at developing new, environmentally friendly and safe vessels to meet the projected growth in ferry transport and will involve Kvaerner's yards in Britain,

Germany, Finland and Norway, all of whom will be working with independent research institutions.

For example, the Kvaerner Govan yard will be working with the Universities of Glasgow, Strothclyde and Newcastle to develop improved cargo ships with fuel efficient hull lines and cargo systems with higher operational efficiency. "Over the next decade, 10,000 ships of different sizes will need to be replaced," states Kjell Mikalsen, managing director of Kvaerner Govan.

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