U.K. shipyard delivers harbor workboat to Svitzer

Svitzer Merlin

OCTOBER 20, 2017 — Southampton Marine Services, Southampton, U.K., has delivered the Bulldog 20 design multipurpose harbor workboat Svitzer Merlin to Maersk Group member Svitzer, which will base the vessel in Milford Haven. The new vessel is a repeat Svitzer order for the shipyard, being similar to the Middlesbrough-based Svitzer Leven

Designed by Argyll Maritime Design Services, the 20.45 m x 7.5 m Svitzer Merlin will concentrate on general port collection work and recycling of waste from ships at the port of Milford Haven.

She is a twin screw, pontoon style, shallow draft work vessel and with a small superstructure and wheelhouse on the portside aft, her large clear deck space across the bow will accommodate 12 waste “skips”and several pallets.

The Svitzer Merlin is propelled by twin 320 bhp Doosan KEMD 196TI manually operated diesels engines, each driving conventional contra-rotating propellers via KGDMT 170H gearboxes at 3.42:1 reduction. John Deere generators with a capacity 60 Kva supply power at 415 volts 3 phase at 50 Hz.

A TMC BS300 M4 knuckle boom crane with a lifting capacity of 2152 kg at a radius of 12.08 m is installed. An electrically driven bent axis piston pump with a rated capacity of 67 Lpm @ 280 bar supplies the crane at full load. The hydraulic system has a three way electrically actuated diverter valve to enable switching from crane to windlass or to the hose reel operation.

Separate from the crane/windlass and hose reel hydraulic system there is a standalone load sensing piston pump driven from the main engine and this provides the 5 tonne tugger winch 67 Lpm @ 210 bar with the engine speed at 1500 rpm and controlled from the aft deck.

On the hull, fendering consists of a single run of 89 mm half section heavy wall pipe, fitted along the length of the vessel port and starboard at deck edge, and is fully welded and sealed. Half section heavy wall pipe chevrons are fitted underside of side deck fender and light waterline port and starboard. The bow is fitted with heavy push knees protected with “D” section rubber fender and the forward deck is protected with bulwarks around the bow and extending down the forward deck on both port and starboard sides.

“Once in service, Svitzer Merlin will have an important role to play in Svitzer’s operation up and down Milford Haven supporting some of the very largest oil and gas ships that visit our waters paying attention to safety and timeliness,” says Keith Furlong, Svitzer’s Port Manager at Milford Haven. Seeing her now, I am sure that she has a long future ahead and we cannot wait for her to enter service.”

“I was really pleased with the speed at which the build progressed once the first steel was cut, but without feeling rushed,” he added. “More importantly, each workboat often requires minor modifications to make her as good as she can be and it was great to be able to visit the shipyard during the build and discuss those changes. “