The first of four 300 ton bollard pull, ultra-long distance towing and anchor handling vessels for ALP Maritime Service has been named at the Niigata Shipbuilding & Repair, Japan where the vessels are under construction. The vessel, named ALP Striker, is designed by Ulstein and is part of the ALP Future class. The vessels are designed with a service speed of 13 … [Read more...]
Splitting Sleep Can Be Beneficial For Towing Vessel Crew Members
A new study revealed that currently there is no scientific data to support a change in working hours for towing vessel crew members. The study, conducted for the Transportation Research Board (TRB) of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine, analyzed several recent studies suggesting that when sleep is split into more than one period per day, performance … [Read more...]
Boskalis and SAAM Joint Ventures Begin 100-Vessel Americas Harbor Towing Ops
Dutch maritime services company Royal Boskalis Westminster and SAAM have announced the successful creation of a joint harbor towage operation consisting of 100 tugboats within North and South America. The partnership, which is between SMIT - a Boskalis subsidiary, and SAAM was previously announced in September 2013. The combined companies will operate two JVs under the … [Read more...]
SPOTD: Towing the COSL Seeker
Captain Serge Prakhov from the Terasea Eagle, a 2013-built, 203 ton bollard pull tugboat operating in the Java Sea, sends us the following image today: His vessel is towing the jack-up rig COSL Seeker from Singapore to Surabaya. The COSL Seeker is an ABS-classed Baker Marine Pacific Class 375 jack-up built by PPL Shipyard in 2008. Follow Capt Prakhov and the … [Read more...]
Adrift Cargo Ship Rescued from Bay of Biscay
A broken down cargo ship has made it safely to the Port of Lorient after spending more than 12 hours adrift in heavy weather in the Bay of Biscay. The emergency towing vessel, Abeille Bourbon, was called out late Monday night to assist eight crewmembers aboard the general cargo ship Just Mariian, which had lost power while southwest of Belle Isle off the coast of … [Read more...]