Great Lakes Shipyard lays keels for ten Damen tugs

AUGUST 11, 2016 — Great Lakes Shipyard, Cleveland, Ohio, yesterday held a keel laying ceremony for ten Damen Stan Tugs 1907 ICE.

To be operated by the yard’s affiliate company, Great Lakes Towing, the Ice Class vessels will replace existing tonnage.

The ABS class vessels will be the first tugs to be designed and built to comply with the new Subchapter M Coast Guard regulations.

In addition to meeting Ice Class specification, the tugs will be treated with special, high endurance paint capable of withstanding the abrasion that comes with moving through ice.

Damen’s Houston-based manager for North America, Jan van Hogerwou, says that under its license agreement Great Lakes Shipyard will receive full construction, design and engineering support from Damen.

“To achieve the best possible result,” he said, “Damen will also provide expert assistance based on its experience having constructed around two hundred Damen-designed vessels in the U.S. over the years”.

Stan Tugs 1907 can be found operating in locations around the world including Russia, Qatar and the Netherlands. Great Lakes Towing opted for the design based on Damen’s reputation for quality and fact-finding visits made by its management to Damen in the Netherlands.

The partnership with Damen has provided Great Lakes Shipyard with a portfolio of proven vessel designs for customers in the United States. Most of the designs have been refined to meet the needs of U.S. operators through a process of feedback and continuous development, and the new Stan Tug 1907 ICE design is a continuation of this.

While these are amongst the first tugs to be built in the USA under Damen’s Technical Cooperation program, over 200 Damen vessels have been built under license in the USA since the mid-1990s.

Artist’s impression: Stan Tugs 1907 ICE