Markey Machinery Company of Seattle, Wash., has developed a new Electric Bow Ship-Assist & Escort Winch and Electric Stern General Purpose Deck Winch for Foss Maritime, in response to their application requirements for the new 5,000 hp
ASD Tug, Morgan Foss, constructed at Foss Maritime's Rainier Shipyard. The type DEPGF-42 Electric Ship-Assist & Escort Winch installed on the bow features a 75 hp electric-motor drive, a drum sized for over 500 ft. of eight in. soft-line, a level-wind fairleader, and an auxiliary warping-head of 24 in. diameter. The high-capacity drum brake will hold well over 400,000 lbs. Markey also outfitted this winch-system with its Line-Tension Display System which shows the operator the tension in the line while the drum brake is set. This winch includes Markey's Render-Recover Mode capability which allows the Captain to operate the Winch in a hands-free manner. This new tug is also outfitted with a new-design Markey type DEPC-32 20 hp Electric Deck-Winch on the stern, with a drum to hold 250 ft. of 6.5 in. soft-line, and with a high-capacity drum brake rated to hold over 200,000 lbs. The new designs are based on Markey's industry-standard soft-line hawser winches for assist-tugs, which allow the winch to be set up for either wire rope or high-performance
ropes based on Plasma or
Dyneema fibers. The new designs also include features which simplify installation and long-term maintenance. Markey has designs available for Ship-Assist & Escort, including newer LNG-specific Escort Winch applications, including versions with below-deck electric motors, explosion-proof motors and brakes, intrinsically-safe controls, and constant-tension drives.