Second Generation Intelligent Tugs for Tiajin Port

[By: Robert Allan]

In the morning of April 18, Tianjin Port held a naming ceremony for its two latest RAmparts 3500 ASD Tugs, Jingang Lun 36 and Jingang Lun 37, designed by Robert Allan Ltd. The ceremony meant the successful completion of the project that Robert Allan Ltd. began the concept development with the port technical department back in early 2022. The two tugs are the second generation of intelligent tugs for the port as part of the ambitious plan to create an intelligent port. The first generation of four tugs with intelligent-ship notation delivered in 2019 were also designed by Robert Allan Ltd.

During a six-day extensive sea trial, Jingang Lun 36 and Jingang Lun 37 completed comprehensive self-control auto navigation tests which included automatic searching, approaching, and accompanying a target vessel at sea. It is reported that this was the very first time a ship-handling tug has been equipped with this kind of system and approved by a Classification Society.

Main Particulars of Jingang Lun 36 and Jingang Lun 37 are:

• Length overall: 34.60 metres
• Beam, moulded: 11.20 metres
• Depth, moulded: 5.22 metres

The tugs were designed and constructed to comply with all applicable Rules and Regulations of CCS, with the following notation:

?CSA Tug; Ice Class B; Cyber Security(S); R2(D); i-Ship(M, E, I) ?CSM AUT-0

Tank capacities are as follows:

• Fuel oil: 60 m3
• Potable water: 40 m3

Carried out by the builder Jiangsu Zhenjiang Shipyard, sea trial results showed that both tugs met all of the requirements of the design by achieving a bollard pull ahead of 64 tonnes and a speed of 13 knots.

The fully customized design comes from a decade of cooperation between Robert Allan Ltd. and the Tianjin Port. Each of the eight crew members have their own cabin which is arranged to comply with the requirements of ILO MLC 2006. There were also specially designed pilot landing platforms provided to create a safe working environment for pilots. For the convenience of the crew, layouts of deck machinery, and machinery spaces were also designed in a similar way as the other tugs in the fleet with improvements learned from the previous operations.