The first high-specification tugboats featuring ComAp InteliGen NT Marine equipment are now in full operation providing South American oil company Petroleos de Venezula (PDVSA) with fully owned assets capable of quick response to firefighting operations and maneuvering tankers at Venezuelan oil terminals. Previous to the Venezuelan general strike of 2002-2003, PDVSA had a fully leased fleet, leaving it vulnerable in the crude oil loading and unloading operations. As a result the Venezuelan government decided to acquire its own tugboat fleet from Cuba, placing an order for four tugboats with Caribbean Drydock Company (CDC), as part of a procurement arrangement made between the Cuban and Venezuelan governments. On April 30 2011, CDC delivered the first tug KARIÑA which will be followed by GUAIQUERI in August, CUMANAGOTO in December, with the last of the initial order CARIBE arriving in January 2012.
The vessels are modern tugboats equipped with the most sophisticated technology, propulsion and manovering systems, giving them the ability to spin on their axis at 360 degrees. They have a capacity of 57 tons of thrust and an output of 4,700 horsepower and give up to ten-day shipping capability. The tugboat switchboards utilise InteliGen NT Marine controllers to supervise and monitor the onboard gen-set. Approved by majority of the leading marine classifications, InteliGen NT Marine provides a range of dedicated functions including automatic synchronizing, AMF function, Baseload, Import/Export, Peak shaving and Voltage & PF control (AVR). It also provides operators with a range of communication options that allows remote monitoring and access to useful data such as performance and event-based history log.
CDC (Caribbean Drydock Company) has confirmed their complete satisfaction with InteliGen NT’s performance and the service and support providing during design, installation and commissioning and intend to continue their use of ComAp control solutions on secondary order of a further eight tugboats.