Page 110: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (November 2016)

Aitana B

WORKBOATS (Image: ECO) (Image: Damen) (Image: Damen) (Photo: Cummins/Alan Haig-Brown)

ASD 3212 artist impression Gary Chouest Jan van Hogerwou hydraulic towing winch. “Soft-core” panels,

Damen Gets 13-Tug heavy, ? re-rated doors and top-line accoutre-

Order from ECO ments are used throughout, offering the crew a

Edison Chouest Offshore (ECO) teamed with quieter, safer and more comfortable living en-

Damen to build 13 heavy duty mooring assis- tance and escort tugs. These will be deployed vironment. Fort McHenry, one of nearly 150 on two maritime projects for which ECO has vessels currently operating out of seven Vane

Brothers locations along the U.S. East Coast, recently won contracts, based in part on the use has joined the company’s New York-based Al- of Damen tug designs. The vessels will be built pha Fleet and is primarily tasked with towing using ECO’s network of ? ve shipyards and Da- men’s support. The ? rst of these is a contract petroleum barges engaged in the North Atlantic coastwise trade. Meanwhile, another new ad- that ECO won earlier this year with a new Cor- pus Christi based LNG export terminal. The dition, the Double Skin 317 bunker barge, is now part of Vane’s Echo Fleet, working out of agreement is for the supply of four escort tugs

Philadelphia, Pa. The DS-317 is the last in a se- with a bollard pull of 80 tons, to operate at this ries of seven 35,000-barrel bunker barges to be new LNG terminal in Texas, which is currently delivered by Conrad Shipyard’s Orange, Texas, under construction. The Damen tugs will be the operation.

escort/mooring ASD 3212 design.

More recently, ECO has won a contract in

Alaska. ECO is taking over the ship escort-

Aitana B: Power & Versatility response duties out of Valdez, Prince William

In April 2016 Zumaia Offshore, S.L., a work-

Sound, from July 2018, for which it will require boat owner and operator based in the Basque nine, high-powered escort tugs. For this project,

Damen and ECO will work together to deliver Country, took delivery of the Cummins-pow- ered MPP workboat Aitana B from Neptune four more ASD 3212 tugs with a bollard pull of

Shipyards in the Netherlands. At 27 x 12-m with 70 tons each and ? ve of the most powerful ASD tugs ever built; the ASD 4517 with a bollard a three-meter draft it is one of the largest models pull of 150+ tons, is a joint Damen and ECO of Neptune’s Eurocarrier series of workboats, developed escort tug speci? cally designed for which are speci? cally designed for dredging the sometimes challenging weather conditions assistance, port construction and maintenance, dive and ROV support, sea renewables, Geo- in the Prince William Sound.

technical survey and general offshore support

In total ECO is now investing in the construc- tion of a total of 13 Damen-designed tugs at its in shallow waters. The range of equipment built shipyards. The contract has been handled by into the rectangular platform is remarkable. An

Damen’s new Area Support of? ce in Houston, accommodation and wheelhouse block set on which opened in August 2016, and has since the port side provides six staterooms, mess and won order for the construction of 27 tugs in galley for up to 12 people. In addition there is another 150 sq. m. of clear working deck. Tank- four U.S. yards.

age includes 124 cu.m. of fuel and 76 cu. m. of fresh water.

Fort McHenry: Vane Bros.’

Mounted on that space is deck equipment ca-

New 3,000 hp Tugboat pable of handling a range of marine projects. A

Vane Brothers is hailing the newest addition forward deck crane lifts up to 11 tons at 18.5-m to its ? eet: the Fort McHenry, a 3,000-hp tug- extension, also mounting a 10 ton SWL winch boat named in honor of the historic landmark for swift deployment of survey equipment. The that can be seen from the company’s Baltimore, aft mounted deck crane lifts ten tons with a

Md., headquarters. Designed by Frank Basile, 12.17-m extension. In addition to the vessel’s

P.E., of Entech Designs, LLC, the Fort McHen- 15-ton tugger winch located starboard aft, the ry is the most recent of 12 “Sassafras Class” vessel is ? tted with an anchor-handling winch tugboats delivered to Vane since 2008 by Ches- with a 125-ton braking hold force and capable apeake Shipbuilding of Salisbury, Md. Measur- of lifting 100 tons at nine meters per minute ing 94 x 32 ft.with a hull depth of 13 ft., Fort or 18 tons per minute with a high speed set-

McHenry is similar in most respects to the pre- ting. The A/H winch carries 400 meters of 52- vious 11 tugboats built for Vane as part of the m/m wire. This workboat is ? tted as well for

Chesapeake contract. The vessel is equipped towing with a dedicated 50ton winch with a with twin Caterpillar 3512 Tier 3 main en- 65-ton braking hold force with 550 meters of gines and operates with a Jon-Rie Series “500” 36/mm wire, a 30-ton SWL towing hook and 110 Maritime Reporter & Engineering News • NOVEMBER 2016

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