Towing Lines News

Turkish shipbuilder Uzmar Shipyards in October cut first steel for a new offshore support vessel for Norway's Buksér og Berging, Norway.The Robert Allan Ltd. (RAL) designed RAmpage 4100BB-H is designed to satisfy the general demands of the offshore industry and to be built for inshore and offshore worldwide operation. The vessel will be intended to carry out towing, anchor handling, and limited deck cargo transfer.During the design, serious attention was given to minimize hull resistance and fuel consumption at cruising speed…

A cargo ship that ran aground off St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands earlier this month has been refloated and towed to a safe mooring location at the Crown Bay Sandfill dock, the U.S. Coast Guard said.Vessel owners and salvors will now coordinate further operations to remove the damaged cargo, remaining oil and conduct further salvage or repair operations for the Bonnie G.The Vanuatu-flagged vessel began taking on water and ran aground on October 4, leading the 12 people on board to be rescued after abandoning ship. No injuries were reported.To refloat the Bonnie G, DonJon-SMIT, Inc.

Phillystran has been awarded a five year contract to supply mooring lines to the US Navy. The new contract follows the successful completion of a five year contract in which Phillystran supplied over 1 million feet of Aramid mooring lines to US Navy ships.Part of the WireCo WorldGroup, Phillystran has worked with the US Navy and US Coastguard for over 40 years, developing and supplying ropes that set the benchmark for fiber rope performance and innovation. Phillystran ropes are NAVSEA approved for lifelines…

Strength, Safety and Sustainability are at the heart of this Homeland Security stakeholder’s mission set.For over 30 years, high performance fiber rope manufacturer Phillystran has worked with the U.S. Coast Guard to supply mooring and towing lines. As innovations in fiber rope technology have enabled lighter and stronger ropes, the Coast Guard has not been slow to take advantage of these and other developments.In step with most maritime stakeholders, NAVSEA approved fiber ropes are widely used by the U.S. Coast Guard.

You’ve got an emergency towing wire. Of course you do. It’s rusted beyond belief, probably retired from primary service two years ago when it developed that kink and those nasty fishhooks. And, it’s deployed where it should be; out on deck, in the open and exposed to the elements. Will it perform when you need it most? Probably not. It doesn’t have to be that way. According to JK Fabrication, the current system of storing wire on a front splash plate insures that the wire will fail as it has very tight radius bends and is rusted in a very short time. When pulled hard in an emergency, the wire will break from tight radius fatigue in rusted areas.

Last August, the 31-meter tug boat Ocean Raymond Lemay was coated with Ecospeed on the  Isle-aux-Coudres in Quebec, Canada. The vessel is owned by Ocean Group Inc., who, among many other services, offers efficient and safe harbor towing services in the ports of Quebec, Montreal, Toronto and a number of smaller harbors. M/V Ocean Raymond Lemay is both an Ice Class and a Firefighting Class vessel, which means she can be used in a wide range of operations. Besides various harbor maneuvers such as moving a ship from one place to another by hauling it with its towing lines, the vessel is used during emergencies or to provide prevention services. The ship is also used to open up the frozen passageways in ports during the winter season.

Puget Sound Rope announce that Michael Greenwood has joined Cortland/Puget Sound Rope as Technical Sales Manager. He has more than 34 years in the rope industry, beginning with the family rope company, Tubbs Cordage Company of San Francisco in 1976. For the last 24 years he has been in sales and sales management with Samson Rope Technologies. Greenwood’s past positions included, Western Regional Sales Manager, National Sales Manager, Director of Sales Commercial Marine and finally Director of New Product Development.

Samson, provider of performance cordage announced that the prototype BRAtt, is equipped with Quantum-12, one of Samson’s most popular towing lines. BRAtt, which is the acronym for Burchett Robert Allen training tug, is scheduled to debut at the International Tug and Salvage Convention and Exhibition in Vancouver, B.C. this month. The result of collaboration between Ron Burchett and Robert Allen Ltd, the BRAtt answers the global need for cost-effective azmuthing-stern-drive training vessels for today’s commercial- and naval-ship masters. The BRAtt is designed exclusively by Robert Allan Ltd., Naval Architects of Vancouver B.C., and will be built by Adrenalin Marine Ltd. of Delta, B.C., which has been selected as the licensed builder for all BRAtts in North America.

The Intercon Coupler System is designed to provide a safe and efficient solution to the problems of connecting tugs and barges in ocean and coastwise pushing operations. Principal benefits include the ability to push in the widest range of sea states; the complete elimination of hull contact; fail-safe mechanical connection with redundant controls, and elimination of the expense and hazards of towing lines and related equipment. In simplest form, the patented Intercon System provides a single degree of freedom allowing the tug to pitch about a transverse connection between the tug and barge. All other motions are restrained so that tug motions match barge motions in roll and heave.

The movement of petroleum products on the nation's rivers, lakes, bays and oceans is soon to be regulated of the Oil Pollution Act of 1990. Called OPA 90, this regulation requires many bulk carriers of petroleum products to use double-hulled barges to haul their cargo by 2005 and all to be doubled hulled by 2015. Looking first at the large product tankers and crude oil carriers, 23 product carriers and 17 crude oil carriers must be double hulled by 2005, another 20 product carriers and 17 crude oil tankers need to be double hulled by 2010 and another 13 product and 9 crude oil ships need to meet OPA 90 by 2015. These conversions (or ship retirements) are a major issue impacting the ability of the U.S. to transport crude oil and its refined products.

Atlantic Marine, Inc. has received a contract for a second state-of-the-art articulated tug and barge (ATB) vessel to be built at its Alabama Shipyard facility in Mobile, according to Dick Wells, President. This will be the second ATB to be supplied to Reinauer Transportation Companies headquartered in Staten Island, New York. "We were awarded this contract to build a second ATB for the Reinauer Transportation Companies for three reasons. First, the performance of the first ATB has been excellent, fully meeting the requirements of Reinauer's customers. Second, Alabama Shipyard has worked hard to support the first ATB to ensure that Reinauer is a fully satisfied customer.

Alabama Shipyard has signed a contract to build an articulated tug and barge (ATB) vessel for Allied Transportation Company of Norfolk, Va. Both vessels will be designed and built to ABS classification standards. "This is our third major contract award during the last four months of 2000," said Dick Wells, the yard's president. "The total value of these contracts is greater than $65 million. Alabama Shipyard designed the 129,000-barrel, 450-ft. (137.1 m) barge in compliance with the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 ("OPA 90"), which requires vessels to have a "double-hull" in order to provide greater safeguards to the marine environment. OPA 90 requires most large coastal barges operating in the petroleum and chemical trade to have double hulls by 2005. Measuring 124 ft.

Alabama Shipyard has signed a contract to build an articulated tug and barge (ATB) vessel for Allied Transportation Company of Norfolk, Va. Both vessels will be designed and built to ABS classification standards. "This is our third major contract award during the last four months of 2000," said Dick Wells, the yard's president. "The total value of these contracts is greater than $65 million. Alabama Shipyard designed the 129,000-barrel, 450-ft. (137.1 m) barge in compliance with the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 ("OPA 90"), which requires vessels to have a "double-hull" in order to provide greater safeguards to the marine environment. OPA 90 requires most large coastal barges operating in the petroleum and chemical trade to have double hulls by 2005. Measuring 124 ft.

Alabama Shipyard has signed a contract to build an articulated tug and barge (ATB) vessel for Allied Transportation Company of Norfolk, Va. "This is our third major contract award during the last four months of 2000," noted Alabama Shipyard president Dick Wells. "We have several pending contracts that will help us create a stable workforce here in Mobile," Wells stated. Alabama Shipyard designed the 129,000-bbl, 450-ft. barge in compliance with the OPA 90, which requires vessels to have a double-hull in order to provide greater safeguards to the marine environment. OPA 90 requires most large coastal barges operating in the petroleum and chemical trade to have double hulls by 2005.