Vancouver, July 2009 -
Seaspan's newest and most powerful tractor tug is now ready to enter
service. The Seaspan Resolution has completed trials and been delivered
to Seaspan, by builder JM Martinac Shipbuilding of Tacoma Washington,
six weeks ahead of its scheduled delivery.
The new tug was welcomed home on June 30 with a commissioning party.
Mona Hendriksen sponsored the vessel.
Once on station, this new 6000 HP tractor / escort tug will become
the keystone of Seaspan's ship assist tug fleet partnering with the
Seaspan Discovery and will undoubtedly become the escort tug of choice
in the port.
Seaspan's new tug is the third of its class built by Martinac
shipbuilding with the first two vessels delivered last year, being
operated by Foss in Puget Sound and San Francisco Bay. The design is by
local Vancouver Naval Architecture firm, Robert Allan Ltd. who were also
the designers of the Cates 2400 series tractors and the Seaspan Hawk and
Seaspan Falcon. With the delivery of the Resolution into Seaspan's fleet
the company can once again be counted amongst the operators of state of
the art ship docking tractor vessels, just as they have always been
starting with the Cates 2 and Seaspan Discovery way back in the early
1980's.
Ship assist tug design has, over the life span of tugs like the
Seaspan Discovery, gone through several evolutionary cycles. In 1982,
when they were new designs the Seaspan Discovery and the smaller Cates 2
represented a bold new approach to the traditional ship docking tug and
were in themselves an evolution of the very first reverse tractor tugs
from Japan. In turn, these two designs were the raw material for the
design amalgamation that then became the Seaspan Hawk and Seaspan Falcon
ten years later in 1993. Since '93 when the Hawk and Falcon were built,
there has been an explosion of development and innovation in the design
of this type of tug, now generally called an ASD (azmuthing stern drive)
tractor, and over time there has been a steady increase in their size
and capability to match the growth in the size of the vessels they
serve. Tractor tugs are now considered the standard platform for ship
assist work both in harbour and in escort, and in the last five years
there has been large numbers of these vessels built and ordered as
replacements for the aging, outdated, harbour tug fleets worldwide.
An additional capability now purposely built into modern tractor tugs
is the ability to produce dynamic assist forces, in excess of its rated
static bollard pull, to a vessel underway. Tugs specifically designed to
do this are called escort tugs and increasingly they are becoming a
common part of ship assist services in ports and constricted waterways.
To do this, new tractor designs like the Seaspan Resolution are fitted
with large fixed skeg keels opposite from the propulsors that allow the
hull to generate dynamic lift while tethered to another ship that is
underway. This is done almost exactly in the same way a water skier
would boost their speed, by whipping outside the towboats wake and
pulling at an angle to the relative direction. These forces can be large
and so the main winch and towing gear have to be capable of anchoring
those forces. In the case of Seaspan's new tug, a 250hp dynamic
escort winch rated at 130 tons indirect line pull performs that job.
This new winch also has a unique capability, within our fleet, in that
it can operate in a render recover mode. What that means is that the
winch can be set to a specific line force pull, if the pull on the line
exceeds that force the winch will automatically slip, paying out line
until the pull goes below the setting (render) and then winch the line
back in while under tension (recover). This can be of significant
benefit when operating in rougher conditions where coming up hard on the
towline has done damage to both tug and assisted vessel in the past.
Purposely designed as a workhorse, the Seaspan Resolution has also
been carefully designed and outfitted to be a safe and comfortable
vessel for its crews with a fully functional galley and mess area on in
the lower deckhouse complete with a lounge and eating area, modern flat
screen TV / DVD setup that can also display information from ECIDS
electronic chart plotting system. The Deckhouse features a separate
washroom/shower, first aid room and ship's office. The main diesel
engines are resiliently mounted to reduce the production of structure
based noise and large critical grade silencers were squeezed into the
exhaust casings to reduce on deck noise created by the powerful main
engines. To further isolate engine room noise from the deckhouse and
wheelhouse the casings are separated from the forward spaces by a
breezeway corridor athwartships on the main deck. The machinery space
also is fitted with a large watertight door between the Z drive
compartment and the engine room making access between the spaces easy
and efficient. Both the lower deckhouse and the upper wheelhouse have
independent air conditioning systems to provide a comfortable working
temperature, even on the hottest of days.
On the "green" front, the Seaspan Resolution is equipped with Tier II
compliant main engines and generators, and the generators are sized
large and small so that in times of low electrical demand the smaller
engine can be operated. A sewage treatment system is also fitted, as is
an oily water separator unit. To assist in crew access and safety the
vessel is equipped with bulwark gates for safer and easier boarding of
the vessel with stores and supplies, and a man over board davit and
recovery system, now standard on Seaspan tractor tugs, as well as life
raft launching rails and a workboat. Also a first in the Seaspan fleet,
the Seaspan Resolution is fitted with dual direction navigation lights
so it can operate in either direction allowing the ability to tow in a
winch aft configuration at night.
"A large and complicated vessel like the Seaspan Resolution does not
go together without the efforts and dedication of a large number of
people both at the shipyard and from the owner and designer," said John Fowlis, Vice President, Fleet Maintenance.
"From Seaspan, the
construction supervision team has included nearly everyone in the Port
Engineers and Port Captains departments, but a special thanks and
recognition of their efforts is due to Roger Trant, and Randy Beckler
from Engineering and to Captain Don Westmorland from the Port Captains
Department."
"Their dedication and experience has made a huge contribution into
making the Seaspan Resolution a tug worthy of being our shipdocking
fleet's flagship."
The Seaspan Resolution is named after the flagship of Captain James
Cook's third voyage of discovery that, in 1778, landed in Nootka Sound.
On board the HMS Resolution was one of the first copies of Harrison's
chronometer, which allowed the most accurate navigation and longitudal
position fixing available, making Cook's Resolution in its time as state
of the art as Seaspan's new tug is today. The HMS Resolution accompanied
by the HMS Discovery were chosen for these voyages because of their
strong construction and sailing characteristics that make them perfect
for the job assigned. Their legendary commanders and crews wrote the
opening chapters of European exploration of the Pacific Northwest. It
seems only fitting that Seaspan's own Discovery is now joined by a
Resolution to continue such a historic pairing.
|
