Sanmar Shipyards, the renowned Turkish tug building specialist, has followed up on recent deliveries of the two Sirapinar class ASD tugs to the Port of Sohar (Oman), with the delivery of the first of a three part order of the larger and more powerful Bigacay class ASD tugs. The arrival of this tug to the Port of Sohar, alongside its two sisters due shortly, will conclude the fleet development aims of the operator, Svitzer and Port of Sohar; agreed as part of the 15 year renewal of the formers marine services contract, awarded in early 2019. It is expected that the remaining two Bigacay class units will be mobilised to Sohar port together once the third unit completes sea trials in June.
The Bigacay class deliver a whole new level of tug power and performance to the port. Gary Dockerty, Sales Director (Middle East and Africa) of Sanmar Shipyards stressed “The Bigaçay series was developed with our design partners Robert Allan Ltd. (RAL) for Sanmar exclusively and is a variant of the RAstar range described as ‘RAstar 2900SX” compact tugs aimed at ensuring efficient construction while still meeting the customisation requirements of discerning clients.’ The design has a sponsoned hull form which is proven to provide significantly enhanced escort towing and seakeeping performance.
The trio, measuring 29.4m in length with a moulded beam of 13.3 and an overall draft of 6.0m, are powered by a pair of CAT 3516C main engines, each delivering 2,525kW coupled to Kongsberg US255FP azimuth thrusters for a mighty +80t bollard pull . As well as towage, the other services the tugs will be required to provide are: Fire-fighting, pollution response support and salvage operations within the Port.
A comprehensive towing capability is ensured with DMT supplying a high performance escort towing winch forward along with an aft towing winch on one of the three tugs. A Data anchor windlass and Palfinger deck crane are also included in the deck equipment list while FFS provide a main engine-driven external firefighting system meeting FiFi1 notation via two forward bridge deck monitors.
Accommodation is provided for eight persons with master and chief engineer cabins on the main deck and three twin-berth cabins on the lower accommodation deck. All cabins are en- suite and with the area of operation in mind a comprehensive HVAC system is included throughout the accommodation and wheelhouse areas.
“We are all very excited to receive the first of the Bigacay class tugs here in Sohar. Svitzer Sohar, the first of the Bigacay class tugs, was recently delivered to Svitzer in Istanbul, and she is a huge step up with bags of power, a lightning fast winch – and being highly manoeuvrable, allows the operations to flow smoothly and quickly. The size and power of the tugs matches nicely with the Valemax vessels regularly calling at Sohar allowing for a higher margin of safety. She is also fitted with FiFi class 1 and provides Sohar port with 24 hour seaborne and quayside firefighting capability needed for the multitude of cargos being transported through the port,” as said by Peter Rosewall, Svitzer Port Manager Sohar.
Svitzer has previously placed orders with Sanmar Shipyards in recent years for 25 tugs in total, 23 ASDs and 2 ATDs, employed in the fulfilment of various towage contracts. Sanmar Shipyards was chosen for their outstanding safety performance, construction quality, swift delivery time and competitive price.
