HaiSea Marine selects Markey Machinery for cutting-edge escort tugs
Written by Nick Blenkey
Image; Markey Machinery
The dual-fuel 95-ton bollard pull escort tugs ordered by HaiSea Marine at Turkey’s Sanmar Shipyards will feature a full suite of environmentally-friendly Markey Machinery deck machines.
The tugs will operate at the LNG Canada export facility under construction on Canada’s west coast in Kitimat, B.C.
Each will be equipped with a Markey engineered, manufactured and serviced stern-mounted 450 horsepower DESF-52UL electric escort winch working 80 mm HMPE line, a stern-mounted model TESS-52UL electric emergency tow winch with Markey render / recover controls, a single speed model CEP-60 electric capstan working mooring lines to 5 tons pull at 65 feet per minute speeds, and two bow mounted model VEPA-16 vertical anchor windlass machines meeting class rules.
Scott Kreis, Markey’s vice president of sales and engineering remarks, “Markey looks forward to beginning detailed engineering to ready this suite of machinery for production. Then, work with the escort tugs’ builder, Sanmar Shipyard, as our Green Machines are delivered and installed onboard such extreme performing escort vessels as these RAstar 4000 tugs.”
Variable frequency motor controllers consume shipboard power only when the machines operate. However, even though all-electric machinery conserves energy and reduces stack emissions compared to other types of power, like electric-hydraulic, Markey says its engineers are “taking Green to a higher level.”
“During detailed design, Markey’s engineers will improve the efficiency of our model DESF-52 hawser winch’s drivetrain ensuring little of the water-cooled motor’s 450 horsepower is wasted,” says Kreis. “In this phase of engineering one objective is to unearth inefficiencies that occur in winch operations. Engineers use computer aided design tools to optimize the drivetrain’s design that, in turn, improves winch responsiveness while also reducing stack emissions. Reduced emissions are environmentally friendly for all the communities along the shipping route.”
A second objective of detail engineering is to ensure that the Class III escort duty machines perform to HaiSea Marine’s standards for line pull, braking force and holding power.
Markey engineers use mathematical modeling to confirm the DESF-52-UL’s performance meets the requirements of LNG Canada’s Kitimat facility. Then, following installation and before the tugs enter service, the deck machinery units and their power and controls are functionally tested to validate they perform escort duties effectively, reliably, and safely in high energy open-ocean environments.
“In addition to reducing the environmental footprint,” says Kreis, “Markey is proud that its technologically advanced asymmetric Markey render / recover Class III hawser winches will be onboard HaiSea Marine’s 95-ton bollard pull tugs as LNG carriers safely navigate the Douglas, Squally, Otter and Principe Channels of British Columbia.”
