HaiSea Marine Taps Markey Machinery for Work on New Escort Tugs

As designer, builder, and operator of tugs supporting LNG Canada’s new gas liquification and export facility currently under construction in Kitimat, British Columbia, Canada; HaiSea Marine tapped Markey Machinery, Company, Inc to outfit their new vessels with a full suite of environmentally friendly deck machines.  

Markey will engineer, manufacture, and service a stem-mounted 450 horsepower DESF-52UL Electric Escort Winch working 80mm HMPE line, a stern-mounted model TESS-52UL Electric Emergency Tow Winch with Markey Render / Recover® controls, a single speed model CEP-60 Electric Capstan working mooring lines to 5 tons pull at 65 feet per minute speeds, and two bow mounted model VEPA-16 Vertical Anchor Windlass machines meeting class rules. 

Awarded the LNG Canada tugboats contract in 2019, HaiSea Marine pinpointed the powerful azimuthing stern drive RAstar 4000 DF class tug of Robert Allen, LTD design for tanker escort duty. Outfitted with Markey’s deck machinery, this extreme performer will safely escort LNG tankers the 159 nautical mile inside transit between Kitimat and the Triple Islands.    

Scott Kreis, Markey’s Vice President of Sales and Engineering remarks, “Markey looks forward to beginning detailed engineering to ready this suite of machinery for production.  Then, work with the escort tugs’ builder, Sanmar Shipyard, as our Green Machines are delivered and installed onboard such extreme performing escort vessels as these RAstar 4000 tugs.”

Most people know that variable frequency motor controllers consume shipboard power only when the machines operate.  Even though all-electric machinery conserves energy and reduces stack emissions compared to other types of power like electric-hydraulic, Markey engineers are taking Green to a higher level. 

Mr. Kreis explains, “During detailed design, Markey’s engineers will improve the efficiency of our model DESF-52 Hawser Winch’s drivetrain ensuring little of the water-cooled motor’s 450 horsepower is wasted.  In this phase of engineering one objective is unearth inefficiencies that occur in winch operations.  Engineers use computer aided design tools to optimize the drivetrain’s design that, in turn, improves winch responsiveness while also reducing stack emissions.  Reduced emissions are environmentally friendly for all the communities along the shipping route.”   

A second objective of detail engineering is to ensure that the Class III escort duty machines perform to HaiSea Marine’s standards for line pull, braking force and holding power.  Markey engineers use mathematical modeling to confirm the DESF-52-UL’s performance meets the requirements of LNG Canada’s Kitimat facility. Then, following installation and before the tugs enter service, the deck machinery and their power and controls are functionally tested to validate they perform escort duties effectively, reliably, and safely in high energy open-ocean environments.

Here, Mr. Kreis sums up Markey’s feeling about being selected for the project, “In addition to reducing the environmental footprint, Markey is proud that it’s technologically advanced Asymmetric Markey Render / Recover® Class III Hawser Winches will be onboard HaiSea Marine’s 95-ton bollard pull tugs as LNG carriers safely navigate the Douglas, Squally, Otter and Principe Channels of British Columbia, Canada.”