A challenge for designers or an emergency response vessel is deciding to what type of emergency the boat will respond. The designers at the non-government Marine Engineering Bureau in Odessa Ukraine have fitted a very wide range of capabilities into their 31.73 by 9.7-meter tug. The vessel’s beams and 4.1-meter molded depth will give it the stability for handling heavy ships.
The azimuthing stern drive tug will be ready to handle a wide range of services. These will range from towing various objects to auxiliary operations in the harbor area. These latter will include oil spill response as auxiliary transport for equipment, installation of booms, assistance in fire fighting, loading and off loading of cargo with deck crane.
Power for this wide range of applications is to be supplied by a pair of Cummins K38-M main engines each delivering 634 kW to Z-drives. Auxiliary power will be provided by two Cummins NTA855-CP200DM5 generators sets each delivering 200 kW. The tug has two forward mounted fire monitors.
A towing winch with a 20-ton braking power, is mounted on the aft deck, as is a cargo crane. The crane can also serve to launch the rescue craft mounted atop the deckhouse.
The tug is being built to the Russian Maritime Register of Shipping class KM + Arc 4 R1 AUT3-C FF3WS Tug. Currently under construction at the Okskaya Sudoverf “OKA” shipyard on the Oka River in Navashino, Russia, the boat is scheduled for delivery in 2016.
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