Multraship and Damen Agree Deals for Carrousel Rave Tugs and ASD

Leading towage and salvage specialist Multraship, through its 100-percent owned subsidiary Novatug BV, has commissioned the construction of two evolutionary Carrousel Rave Tugs (CRTs) from Damen Shipyards Group. These new vessels will provide tug operators with more power, more freedom and more durability, as well as eliminating the risk of capsizing under a tow load.

Construction of the CRTs will begin immediately under an agreement between Novatug, with Multraship as its first customer, and Damen-subsidiary Van der Velden Barkemeyer GmbH. The hulls of the vessels will be built by German shipyard Theodor Buschmann GmbH in Hamburg, with final outfitting carried out by Damen Maaskant Shipyards in Stellendam, the Netherlands. Delivery of the Bureau Veritas-classed vessels is scheduled for first-quarter 2017.

Main characteristics

The RAVE design was developed by leading naval architecture consultancy Robert Allan Ltd, in conjunction with Voith GmbH. The CRTs have an overall length of 32 meters, and a bollard pull of minimum 70 tons. Propulsion is via two Voith thruster units and two ABC main engines of 2,650 kW operating at 1000 rpm. Free running speed is over 14 knots at 5,300 kW.

The Carrousel tug’s lower operational costs, speed of action and enhanced control over the tow can provide huge advantages over conventional tugs, for example by widening or even removing tidal and/or weather windows for certain ports. Novatug will offer the Carrousel Rave tugs on the basis of long-term bareboat charters, basically a financial or operational lease construction, which is both customary and proven in other capital-intensive industries such as aviation.

Safe operations

Leendert Muller, managing director of Multraship, says, "Safety is always our overriding objective, and that it is why we have opted wholeheartedly to produce the Novatug CRT. This new tug design, for the first time, eliminates what has always been the most significant threat to safety in towing – the risk of capsizing under a tow load. The benefits in terms of efficiency and flexibility, meanwhile, are also enormous".

“The involvement of Theodor Buschmann and Maaskant completes the so-called Novatug 'dream team' which, over the years, has benefited greatly from the input of Voith, Robert Allan, ABC and the Luyt Group, working closely together and using all their experience and expertise to produce a design which has been awarded the Dutch Maritime Innovation Award.”

Fleet expansion

Meanwhile, Multraship has also agreed a deal with Damen for a new state-of-the-art ASD 3212 tug as part of its planned fleet expansion to keep pace with increasing demand for its specialist services.

The Dutch-flag, LR-registered Multratug 31 was built at Damen Song Cam, Vietnam. A sister vessel to Multratugs 19, 29 and 30, it will operate mainly in the Western Scheldt area. It has a maximum bollard pull of 83.2 tons and a maximum speed of 15 knots. The 453 gt vessel is powered by two Caterpillar 3516C engines and has two Rolls Royce Azimuth thrusters and a 2,800 mm-diameter controllable pitch propeller.

The vessel’s deck layout features a hydraulically driven escort double drum winch forward and single drum aft, and a 25 mt deck crane. There are two one-man cabins, four two-man cabins, a mess room and galley.

Leendert Muller says, “This new tug is needed, because our workload is still increasing and we are confident this will be the case for several years to come. This is not an industry where you can stand still. If you want to stay at the top, you have to keep investing in new vessels, new equipment, new technology, and good people. That is what Multraship is doing, and will continue to do.”