AMERICA'S OTHER COAST
Tacoma, Washington, based Totem Ocean Trailer Express, Inc. (TOTE) recently took delivery of the M.V. North Star, the second of two new Orca Class trailerships built by General Dynamics’ National Steel and Shipbuilding Co. (NASSCO), in San Diego, Calif., for service between Tacoma and Anchorage, Alaska.
The M. V. North Star, and its sister ship, the M. V. Midnight Sun, are 840-foot-long, 118-foot-wide roll-on/roll-off cargo ships capable of carrying highway trailers as large as 53 feet in length. Cargo decks are 360,000 square feet and able to carry up to 600 cargo trailers and 220 autos as well as oversized freight. The ships can achieve a speed of more than 24 knots and can be loaded and discharged in nine hours.
For the diesel-electric propulsion plant, each ship is equipped with four MAN B&W 9L58/64 engines of 11,700 kW each, and two MAN B&W 9L27/38 engines of 2,700 kW each, for a total output of 52,200 kW. The engines are designed to operate on both heavy fuel oil, ISO 8217 Grade RMH 55 or marine diesel oil, ISO 8217 Grade DMC.
NASSCO is now the sole “Big Yard” on America’s West Coast. However, of all America’s first tier yards, it seems to have a unique grasp of how to satisfy both Naval and commercial clients. With the TOTE ships delivered, its current commercial ship focus is the series of four Alaska class tankers it is building for BP. Its current Navy focus is on a series of 12 T-AKE dry cargo ammunitions ships.
At the other end of the Pacific Coast (and the newbuilding size scale) is Allen Marine, Inc., Sitka, Alaska, which has custom built some 20 catamaran and monohull ferries for NY Waterway, Weehawken, N.J. (see August issue of Marine Log, p. 17).
FOOD FOR THOUGHT
Fish must be “brain food.” Or maybe it’s the rain or the caffeine? Whatever the explanation, the West Coast is home to some of the country’s most innovativenaval architects and marine engineers. The cluster of design houses in Seattle and Vancouver alone includes
Art Anderson Associates,
Elliott Bay Design Group,
Glosten Associates,
Guido Perla Associates,
Jensen Maritime Consultants,
Kvaerner Masa Marine and
Robert Allan Ltd.
While some of these design houses grew up out of the commercial fishing industry, they are now clearly thinking outside the fish box. Their combined portfolio includes everything from high-speed ferries, pilot boats and casino boats to deepwater anchor handlers, Z-drive tugs, and tankers. While many of these designs have been in support of regional owners or shipyards, others have been produced for international customers.
Case in point is the Ege 5, a new azimuthing stern drive ship-handling tug for Turkey’s Uzmar-Uzmanlar Shipping and Trading Company Ltd.
The Ege 5 is an ASD Class 25/45 tug designed by Robert Allan Ltd., Vancouver, B.C., and built under direction of the owner at the Ge-Ta Shipyard in Tuzla, Istanbul.
The 25 m x 10 m Ege 5 is classed by Bureau Veritas and built for full compliance with applicable SOLAS, MARPOL, and IMO rules, and equipped to GMDSS Area A2 requirements.
The propulsion system comprises a pair of Deutz SBV 6M 628 diesel engines, each rated 1,250 kW at 1,000 rev/min, driving Schottel SRP 1010 Z-drives through a straight-line shafting system. This combination delivers a bollard pull of 46 tonnes at a continuous rating, and 49.5 tonnes bollard pull at maximum continuous rating. The free running speed is 12 knots ahead and 10.5 knots astern.
