GE to Power New Tug for Multraship

Dutch towage and salvage group Multraship and GE Marine announced that GE's 12-cylinder 7FDM diesel engines have been selected to power a new tugboat being built for Multraship. It will be the first newbuild to incorporate the Carrousel system licensed by Rotterdam-based Novatug, Multraship and GE jointly reported today at the International Tug & Salvage Convention and Exhibition.The compact Carrousel tug will use two GE medium-speed diesel engines, each rated at 3,070 shaft horsepower (shp) for total system propulsion of 6,140 shp. A shipyard is now being selected to build the 24-meter vessel, which is expected to go into service in the harbors of southern Holland in early 2005.

"We selected GE Diesels for this application based on proven low life cycle costs, reliable operation, fuel efficiency and recent ABS certification," said Leendert Muller, managing director of Multraship Towage & Salvage, Terneuzen, The Netherlands. "We are delighted to be involved in this milestone project," said John Manison, general manager of GE Marine, Erie, Pa. "We are confident that Multraship will benefit from the operating experience garnered by the more than 1,500 GE Diesel engines now in service worldwide."

Carrousel System The new Carrousel design is characterized by a radically different concept: By placing a ring around the tug's superstructure, with the towing wire connected to either a hook or winch on the ring, the towing wire can be rotated freely from the tug's hull. This leaves no need for rotation of the tug's propulsion by means of complex thrusters.

The first Carrousel tug was a retrofitted vessel. In 1999, Multraship Towage & Salvage's Multratug 12 was converted into the world's first Carrousel tug. After extensive tests to validate model results and to investigate the practical use of the system in an actual application, the retrofitted tug went into service in 2002 on the sea-canal in Ghent-Terneuzen. In fact, Multraship Towage & Salvage was awarded the prestigious Dutch Maritime Innovation Award in April 2003 for the implementation of the Carrousel design.

The Engines GE offers a full line of GE Diesel and EMD* compatible engines and products for the marine, power and industrial markets. The GE Diesel family of medium speed engines ranges between 1,600 to 4,500 shp. GE's 7FDM engine models in 8, 12 and 16 cylinders, range in power from 1,600 shp/1,193 kilowatts (kW) to 4,500 shp/3,355 kW. The high compression, Electronic Fuel Injected (EFI) engines recently received ABS certification. These reliable engines deliver reduced fuel consumption, improved reliability and decreased emissions, and are driven by GE's new Powerstar Controller. GE Diesels meet current MARPOL and EPA Marine Tier 1 emissions requirements, with NOx below 8.6 grams per horsepower-hour (g/hp-hr). These engines will meet EPA Marine Tier II compliance that goes into effect in 2007 (see Table 1 below for engine specifications).