Turkish shipyards have delivered tugs to port operators in West Africa and the Middle East as maritime trade increases and larger ships arrive in these regions

In Africa, Ghana Ports & Harbours Authority (GPHA) has raised its ship handling capabilities by constructing a new fleet of tugs. It has taken delivery of the last of three harbour and emergency response tugs from TOR Group of companies’ shipyard in Tuzla Bay, near Istanbul in Turkey. Ben Owusu-Mensah joined sister tugs Josephine Asante and Commander KT Dovlo , delivered in 2019, to support towage services in Ghanaian ports.

These tugs were built by TOR to Robert Allan’s RAstar 3300 design and Bureau Veritas classification during 2019. The 32.8-m tugs provide ship-assist, fire-fighting, and pollution response to GPHA. They have bollard pulls of around 82 tonnes and speeds of more than 14 knots.

Their propulsion comes from a pair of Cummins QSK95-M engines, the first time these have been used in tug applications. These each deliver 2,560 kW of power at 1,800 rpm and drive a Kongsberg US255S P30 fixed-pitch Z-drive with 280 cm diameter propeller. Electrical power is generated by a pair of Cummins QSB7 gensets, each capable of producing 136 ekW at 50 Hz.

FiFi1 class fire-fighting capabilities come from a Marsis fire pump and pair of water and foam-capable monitors, mounted on top of the forward deckhouse. These systems are powered by dedicated Cummins QSK38-M1 engines. On deck are Kongsberg-supplied hawser winches on the forward deck, with 225 tonnes brake holding load, and Mampaey tow hooks mounted to a tow post aft, with 100-tonne safe working load.

In the Middle East, Abu Dhabi Ports boosted its ship manoeuvring capabilities in its flagship Khalifa Port in the United Arab Emirates. Tugboat Tareef 1 was built by Med Marine in Turkey to a MED-A2360 design, based upon Robert Allan’s RAmparts 2300-MM tugboat model.

This 23-m tug has a 10.9 m beam and 4.4 m hull depth. It is an azimuth stern drive (ASD) tug with 60 tonnes of bollard pull and free running speed of 12 knots from a pair of Caterpillar CAT 3512 main diesel engines each developing 1,765 kW of power at 1,800 rpm. These drive two Kongsberg US205 P20 FP drives with fixed pitch 240-cm diameter propellers.