Dutch lease Finnish tug
Dutch towage and salvage specialist Ton Kooren International (KOTUG) has leased Zeus, one of Europe's most powerful tirefighting, anchor-handling tugs for operation in the southern North Sea area. The vessel was completed in December after a buildtime of just 7.5 months at the Flekkefjord yard of Simek, Norway, for Finnish operator Alfons Hakans of Turku.
Designed by cooperative agreement involving the yard, Alfons Hakans and Polarkonsult AS of Harstad, Zeus is DNV-classed +1A1 with ice class 1A Super and FiFi 1 notations.
Measuring 147.9 ft. x 45.9-ft. (45.1 m x 14-m) with maximum draft of 22 ft. (6.7 m), she has a maximum bollard pull of 110 tons. For anchor handling and towing, Zeus is equipped with a low pressure Ulstein Brattvaag E12A-BJB IP 1MB hydraulic winch with two separate compartments on one drum, and a Mampaey disctype towing hook with 100-ton SWL with local and remote release. Deck equipment includes an Effer 4400-5S 44-ton/m crane, two Brattvaag anchor winches and two, two-ton Speckanchor anchors with chains.
Accommodation is provided for a maximum of 10 officers and crew with seven single cabins, one double and one cabin with four bunks. The master's cabin and dayroom are located on the forecastle deck along with the galley, mess and crew dayroom. Deck four is dedicated to operations with a command center, store room and conference/day room.
The twin berth cabin can be converted for hospital use if needed, and all single cabins have private toilet and shower facilities. The bridge deck on level five reportedly benefits from good high rise visibility and a comprehensive package of navigation and communications equipment. Radios, modem, telex, telephone and fax are all from Sailor and Navtex by Furuno. The hub of the navigation kit is a Racal Decca Bridgemaster CB 251/6 with Decca ARPA and Phillips DGPS Navigator.
A Sailor chartplotter, Robertson gyrocompass, gyro repeater and AP9 Mk II autopilot, and Furuno FCV 581 echosounder are also incorporated.
Zeus is powered by a single-screw propulsion system driven by Caterpillar engines and augmented by side thrusters. The twin 3608 type engines offer a total of 7,370 bhp at 5,420 kW, for a maximum speed of 16 knots and cruising speed of 13 knots. They are coupled to a Volda twin-input, single-output gearbox driving an Ulstein 4200-mm diameter CP propeller. An Ulstein bowthruster and stern thruster offer enhanced maneuverability. Survivor recovery and rescue equipment center around a davit launched 13-ft. (4-m) fast rescue boat of DSB type. Two powerful searchlights are mounted atop the wheelhouse, along with two Kvaerner EF 21 IE fire monitors.
Controlled from the bridge, each monitor has a throw height of 164-ft. (50-m), length of 393.6-ft. (120-m) and capacity for 2,900- sq.-m/hr of foam. The monitors are driven by two Kvaerner fire pumps, powered by the main engines via a Kumera/Norgear stepup gearbox.
The vessel is currently stationed at the Dutch port of Den Helder and has already undertaken several towage tasks, including transfer of the 300 x 100-ft. (91.4 x 30.4-m) barge AMT Explorer from Tilbury to Ijmuiden.
