As everyone knows, tugboat’n can get a little crazy sometimes, especially in Norway, so the naval architects at Robert Allan Ltd. to add a roll cage to their latest tug design.
It’s not exactly a roll cage though, obviously, but rather a removable cage to protect the wheelhouse. RAL’s Ernst Schneider notes, “the RAscal Series are line handling tugs that work intimately with (sometimes) very large ropes hanging off ships. When in this operating environment, the mast can fold down and the cages protect the wheelhouse, working deck and equipment from damage.”
The Sanmar-built tug is powered by a pair of 350 kW Caterpillar C18’s driving Veth VZ-550 azimuthing drives via carbon fiber shafts.
Saudi Arabia's National Shipping Co. (Bahri) provisionally hired at least five supertankers as freight rates approach $200,000 per day, the highest since 2020. The bookings signal rising Saudi crude exports to Asia amid geopolitical tensions in the Strait of Hormuz.
West African crude traders are slashing prices as soaring freight costs and an unfavorable Brent-Dubai spread kill Asian demand. Tanker rates to Asia hit five-year highs while Nigerian crude discounts deepen with no buyers emerging.