Powerful, First of Class Damen Tug Delivered

The first Damen ASD Tug 3110 was built in 1993: the Citta Della Spezia. Over the past 10 years almost 100 small Damen ASD Tugs of the following types have been built: Damen ASD Tug 2509, 2810, 3110, 3111 and 3211. These are multi-purpose ASD Tugs, designed for working over both the bow and the stern. The recently developed Damen ASD Tug 2411, however, is a real push-pull ASD Tug, designed primarily for working over the bow. This tug is a powerful 4200 kW vessel that develops a bollard pull of around 70,000 kg; full ahead to full astern in a ship’s length, turning around in ten seconds with the speed of a windmill. With the introduction of the Damen ASD Tug 2411, Damen Shipyards has put a new type of port tug on the market: very compact, with an enormous bollard pull. The prototype of this boat (yard number 512201) was built at Damen Shipyards Changde in China for stock and as a demonstration model, but even before delivery the boat was sold to an Australian shipping company and named Barunga. The handover to Adsteam Towage Pty Limited in Bondi Junction, New South Wales, took place on January 23. The Barunga is based in Port Adelaide. The Design “What we need is a small ASD Tug but with the power of the ASD Tug 3111; we had a length of around 22 m in mind. Make some suggestions.” This was more or less the question the Damen Sales team put to the Tugs & Workboats Product Group almost three years ago. It was a new product, at least for Damen. Initial sketches showeda wide, short and low, with a very big approach angle to enable it to creep as far ‘under’ a ship as possible, and with virtually no accommodation and an excellent view all round. The company had long meetings and made many changes. And the boat grew. That’s how it happens with Damen Standard designs – “Wouldn’t it be handy if it could do this too and if there was room for that as well.” It’s always about the customer and what he can use a Standard Damen product for. Damen’s design philosophy is “form follows function”. This is reflected in the ASD Tug 2411. Everything on board is essential and anything that proves not to be will be removed from subsequent models. The design is not the work of one person or one group of people, but it does show where the Damen Tugs & Workboats division now stands as a “tug builder”. The need for a new type of vessel was the result of developments in the market. Competition for port tug work is usually stiff (witness the price wars in some ports) and that led to an increasing demand for vessels that were cheap but had considerable bollard pull. ‘Cheap’ means, for example, low investment cost, minimum crew costs (and therefore the smallest possible crew) and low maintenance costs.