Carrousel Systems Ready for Fitting

Construction and testing of the unique Carrousel towing system and winch platform for use in the first of two innovative combi-tugs building in Malaysia for Dutch salvage and towage company Multraship has now been completed, and inspected by Bureau Veritas. Following sandblasting and painting, it will be shipped to Malaysian shipbuilder Nautica Nova Shipbuilding & Engineering (NNSE), where the tugs are presently being built. Construction of the towing system for the second vessel is well advanced, and the unit is expected to be shipped to Malaysia within the next two-to-three months. The Carrousel system and integrated winch platform were built in the Netherlands, and will be shipped in containers to Malaysia. The outer turning circle of the system, including the winch platform, is approximately thirteen metres. The construction, weighing about thirty tonnes overall, embodies three different types of steel. It includes roughly 75 load runners, two-thirds of which are engaged in rotational movement, while the remainder bear the weight of the Carrousel and provide an anti-lift effect when the Carrousel is load-bearing and the ship has a heeling angle. The theoretical maximum load for the construction is about 300 tonnes, validated by finite element calculations. The two eighty-tonne static bollard-pull Carrousel combi-tugs will be among the most robust harbour and escort tugs in the world. They will be highly stable both statically and dynamically, and will therefore be of particular significance for large vessels making approaches to rivers and harbours. They are also especially fuel-effective, producing potential savings in this regard of between thirty and fifty per cent.