Lake Eire News

Great Lakes Shipyard has successfully completed seatrials of the “HANDY-ONE”, the first tug of the new HANDYSIZE Class to be delivered to TUGZ International, LLC, the well-known and successful owner and charterer of a fleet of Z-Class tractor tugs. Both the new HANDYSIZE Class and the Z-Class tugs were designed for Tugz by Jensen Maritime Consultants, Seattle. The sea trials, including speed and endurance trials were performed in the icy waters of Lake Eire under freezing winter conditions.

At 12,700 square miles (32,890 sq km) in area, Lake Tanganyika is the second largest in Africa. It is larger than North America’s Lake Eire (9,910 sq. mi.) and over half the size of Lake Michigan (22,300 sq.mi.). Ships have operated on it since before the First World War when Germany and Britain had some minor naval battles there. This past August a new ship, the M/V Teza, began working the waters of the great lake. Built entirely in Burundi by the Batralac firm, under the management of Basil Demeris the vessel will be operated on the lake by the same company. Designed by the Greek company of Chris Simopoulos & Associates, the 60 by 11-metre ship is powered by a pair of Cummins KT19 marine diesels rated 425 HP each at 1800 RPM.