Emergency towing vessel

[Goldie fish]

New Norwegian Coast Guard vessel designed and equipped by Rolls-Royce

Rolls-Royce has provided the design and major equipment for a new Norwegian Coastguard multi-role vessel, named Harstad, built by Aker's Søviknes yard in west Norway based on steelwork from Aker Tulcea in Romania. The ship is owned by Remøy Shipping, whowill operate it on long term charter to Kystvakten.

Harstad will undertake a variety of coastguard and Exclusive Economic Zone management roles. These include offshore standby and rescue, firefighting, salvage, and general law enforcement operations and fishery control.

One important duty will be pollution prevention. There is concern over the rapidly increasing oil tanker traffic from Russian ports along the coastline of northern Norway, with the risk of a disabled vessel grounding and causing an oil spill.

Harstad is therefore fitted for emergency towing of tankers up to about 200,000dwt and spill clean-up.

The vessel will be manned, as are other Norwegian coastguard vessels, by a combined military and civilian crew.

A new Rolls-Royce design, the 83m long UT512, was developed to meet the challenging requirements. A bollard pull of about 110 tonnes is combined with a speed of about 18.5 knots to enable the vessel to reach the scene of an incident quickly and then tow a stricken vessel to safety

http://www.oilpubs.com/oso/vesseland...androv_594.htm

So Norway Has the above, Spain recently took delivery of a similar UT 722 L type,The UK has at least two dedicated ETVs at either end of the country at all times,France too,has Taken delivery of a similar type.

Abeille Bourbon (http://www.morglaz.org)

The only gap on the western seaboard of Europe is Ourselves. There has been no move on this vessel,even though there has been an urgent requirement for many years,and the DOMNR has "identified" a requirement.(well done).

Meanwhile,the wind blows,the seas get rough,and ships get stuck on rocks off our jagged coast,and we watch while others do the salvage,and if they get there on time,the pollution control.

The cost of these vessels is balanced by the damage to the marine industry,tourism,and environment that they have the potential to prevent.

[Silver]

The cost of these vessels is balanced by the damage to the marine industry,tourism,and environment that they have the potential to prevent.

I agree 100% !!
High time we had our own such vessel.

BTW, correct me if I am wrong, but I recall reading about (seeing?) a report a few years ago about the new Irish Lights (?) vessel which it was claimed would also be used for other tasks, e.g. SAR assistance, Pollution Control, (Towing?)......

Is this the case, or just the DOMNR 'copping out' of it's responsibilities ?

......... do you have a pic of the IL ship ?

[Goldie fish]

The Government claim that the Irish Lights vessel Grainuaile can be used as such,but she is not capable of such a heavy Bollard pull. She has the Hull of a Tug,but thats where the similarity ends.

She is as capable of towing as any vessel...Not much use in emergencies though.

[Stinger]

if we did get such a ship would she be operated by a civilian or military agency

[Goldie fish]

Similar to all other DOMNR roles,we would tender for the service. If the NS had such a ship,then they would crew it. The Norwegian ship in the first photo has a combination of Military/Civilian crew,which is already in use(on a smaller scale) in the Customs Patrol boat (Naval Service/Revenue).

[Silver]

What other uses could such a vessel be put to when not engaged in towing ops/pollution control ?

I presume this would be an important consideration were such a vessel to be purchased.

[Goldie fish]

Fishery Protection,other Law enforcement tasks....any other role currently carried out by the NS

[Stinger]

wouldn't she have to be armed for fisheries protection duties

[Goldie fish]

How hard is it to mount a GPMG or HMG? The Vessel in the first photo is armed.

[DeV]

The Report to the Steering Group on the Review of the Irish Naval Service and Air Corps, 1998, established a future demand for:

Pollution response vessels, backed up by NS vessels

Multi-purpose vessels with 120/150 ton bollard pull (the UK has 4)

Other vessels with marine emergency response capability with lesser bollard pull than the latter, equipped with winches, towing lines, main mast fire monitors.

Following a feasibility report, it was decided in 1999 that Ireland should have access to an E.T.V. capacity to protect our coast from the dangers of a major oil pollution incident and vessel stranding (especially the grave threat posed by problems with nuclear submarines).

It was recommended that the west coast service should be provided via PPP and the east coast should a joint PPP with the UK.

http://www.marinetimes.ie/Assets/_ar...5_news_04.html

[Goldie fish]

Thats typical of our government...Lets leave it to our neighbours. Same as we done for so many years with Search and rescue. Will they ever learn? Did they ever consider that The UK(and french) vessels may be too busy to attend to our problems? If conditions are such that tankers are being washed onto Irelands west coast,you can be pretty sure they are doint the same in the Bay of Biscay,Dover straits and the North Sea.

[Silver]

Thats typical of our government...Lets leave it to our neighbours. Same as we done for so many years with Search and rescue. Will they ever learn? Did they ever consider that The UK(and french) vessels may be too busy to attend to our problems? If conditions are such that tankers are being washed onto Irelands west coast,you can be pretty sure they are doint the same in the Bay of Biscay,Dover straits and the North Sea.

I agree.
It's either 'put it on the long finger' or ' leave it to the UK'

[DeV]

Thats typical of our government...Lets leave it to our neighbours. Same as we done for so many years with Search and rescue. Will they ever learn? Did they ever consider that The UK(and french) vessels may be too busy to attend to our problems? If conditions are such that tankers are being washed onto Irelands west coast,you can be pretty sure they are doint the same in the Bay of Biscay,Dover straits and the North Sea.

Exactly.

It took the ETV based in northern Scotland 26 hours to reach the damaged Canadian submarine.

[X-RayOne]

cheers goldie.

would the new opv's or epv not have this towing capacity anyway or are these a much bigger beast?

[Goldie fish]

No. They would have a basic towing ability, same as every vessel, but to tow a 150,000 tonne stricken cargo ship away from the irish coast safely, you need a bit more than a 2000 tonne patrol vessel with a bit of rope attached to the pins.

[pmtts]

The UK has at least two dedicated ETVs at either end of the country at all times.

The UK have four ETV's which are on charter to the Maritime & Coastguard Agency.

The Straits of Dover ETV is jointley operated by both UK & French Coastguard.

The only ETV ive ever seen down here was last year when it towed in the Cruise Ship Calypso, which caught fire in the Channel.

[thebig C]

I agree on the need for an ETV such as the Rolls-Royce design, but who would operate it? The Naval Service don't seem to be interested.

[Goldie fish]

What makes you think they are not interested? They have other priorities at the moment,replacing the P20 Class with an OPV that will see them through another 30 years of being Ignored by the Government finances,and nobody in Government is pushing the ETV idea too hard. There has not even been investigation, to my knowledge, of tendering to an external agency to provide ETV cover. Personally I see an ETV as an Ideal CPV replacement.

[thebig C]

What makes you think they are not interested? They have other priorities at the moment,replacing the P20 Class with an OPV that will see them through another 30 years of being Ignored by the Government finances,and nobody in Government is pushing the ETV idea too hard. There has not even been investigation, to my knowledge, of tendering to an external agency to provide ETV cover. Personally I see an ETV as an Ideal CPV replacement.

Reason I said they're not interested is that the NS plan for ship acquisition for the foreseeable future is one EPV and 2 OPVs, with maybe another EPV and OPV later. So the NS has no plans for an ETV for at least 5 years, and I haven't heard of any interest even after that.

Would the country be better served by an ETV in place of a second EPV? Which should have the higher priority: the ability to transport a second infantry company and their vehicles to Africa or wherever - but not Chad or Darfur - or the ability to take a large vessel that's threatening our coasts with pollution under tow?

[Goldie fish]

Reason I said they're not interested is that the NS plan for ship acquisition for the foreseeable future is one EPV and 2 OPVs, with maybe another EPV and OPV later. So the NS has no plans for an ETV for at least 5 years, and I haven't heard of any interest even after that.

I think you are mistaken there. It is long established that Senior NS officers, one of whom wrote an article to such opinion, have for some time sought a 15 ship navy that included an ETV.

http://forum.irishmilitaryonline.com...ead.php?t=1937

Navy Proposals will hole service below the waterline

Former navy captain Peadar McElhinny argues the draft white paper on Defence is an embarrassment

The Examiner,Saturday March 4 ,2000



DECEMBER 7 ,1941;the Japanese surprise attach crippled the U.S Pacific fleet in Pearl Harbour.It is a day remembered as the Day of Infamy.
Strange how this should come to mind as I studied the Draft White Paper on Defence.
It too was a sneak attack on the Naval Service -if not as dramatic-but there are similarities.
There was almost daily administrative contact but no feedback to the Naval Service on its working group submissions.
When the White Paper did finally appear,the Naval Service(Navy)was outraged.
It should not have been;the signs were already there.
A Green Paper facilitating a consultative process had not preceded it ,in accordance with established practice.
The bottom line was that they would have a fleet pegged at 8 ships against the 15 required to successfully police Irelands quarter million square miles of underwater territory,and that the role of the Navy would be reduced.
This is in spite of the sectionthat emphasises the "utilisation and development of the Naval Service to contribute to all of the states requirements in the maritime domain"
Additionally the crews to man the Navys newest vessel,L.E.Roisin would have to come fron the existing figure agreed to man 7 ships.
Price Waterhouse in its 1998 report,recommended this figure of 1,144 to Government.
But this has never been reached due to lack of agreement on promotion and recruitment.
The current strength is about 1000 .so to get a quart out of a pint ,half the fleet would concentrate on fishery protection with reduced crews.
Why do the Navy want 15 ships and what are the implications of reducing crews on ships?
The Navy is Irelands maritime policing with responsibilitiesfor the protection of a marine environment 13 times the size of Ireland.
It needs a constant presence-presence being deterrence Like the Gardai on our streets-in this environment:
*To police our fisheries and ensure that our fishermen work safely and without harassment from agressive competitors for dwindling resources.
*To moniter the passage of transiting merchant vessels to ensure that they do not pollute our waters and endanger our beaches ,thus damage our coastal tourism.
*As part of the Joint Task Force,with the Gardai and the Customs ,to combat drugs and arms trafficing off our coasts.
*Conduct search and rescue and search and recovery operations.
*Conduct diving operations - explosive ordnance disposal and assistance to the Gardai.
*Monitor activity on seabed exploration and ensure that such activity is conducted without interference.
*Contribute to United Nations and Partnership for Peace missions (St Petersburg tasks)
By comparison to our European Coastal neighbours ,we are grossly under resourced,with only 8 ships to police such a vast area.This is the equivalent of one Garda patrol car for all of Ireland.
Little wonder that ,in spite of many noted sucesses in apprehending drug trafficing vessels at sea ,our streets are awash with drugs.
Belgium,by comparison has an area 200times less maritime terrotory than Ireland and has a fleet of 18 vessels.
The European average is 88 ships to police European Maritime areas.
Against this backdrop,this White Paper is nothing less than a national and international embarassment.
Reducing crews on some ships ,which would concentrate on fishery policing will have 2 main effects:
The Navy will not be in a position to provide the current range of specialised assistance to fishing vessels.
These include fire fighting ,damage control,towing ,propellor release from fouled nets and mechanical first aid.
Invariably, across the broad spectrum of activity the navy has to undertake, including drug interdiction,the under-manned and equipped ship will be in the wrong place at the wrong time.
To recomment that an already under-resourced Navy should have its current capability diluted is madness.
As well as being astounded by the lack of understanding by the drafters of this document ,the Navy is also outraged.
Is the Navy living on the same island or indeed the same planet as the drafters of this document?
The proposal is more fitting for Policing Rockall than policing this island nation!


Capt Peadar J.Mc Elhinney is a retired second in command of the Naval Service and Commanding officer Naval Base ,Haulbowline,Cork.He was also the senior Military Advisor to the United Nations Special Mission to Afghanistan in 1988

Would the country be better served by an ETV in place of a second EPV? Which should have the higher priority: the ability to transport a second infantry company and their vehicles to Africa or wherever - but not Chad or Darfur - or the ability to take a large vessel that's threatening our coasts with pollution under tow?

So you don't actually know what the primary task of the EPV is then?
READ THE RFP

[thebig C]

Of course the Naval Service wants to have more ships - it would be strange if they didn't. But every manager has to work with finite resources, and the first thing you have to do is be clear on the priorities. Emergency towing doesn't appear to be very high on the NS priority list: the RFP for the EPV that you posted in another thread doesn't mention emergency towing, but it does mention the possible transport of personnel, vehicles and equipment. I think that's a pretty clear indication of priorities.

[hptmurphy]

Former navy captain Peadar McElhinny argues the draft white paper on Defence is an embarrassment

Pity they weren't so vocal while in power rather than using it to get on the after dinner speech scene

[Goldie fish]

Of course the Naval Service wants to have more ships - it would be strange if they didn't. But every manager has to work with finite resources, and the first thing you have to do is be clear on the priorities. Emergency towing doesn't appear to be very high on the NS priority list: the RFP for the EPV that you posted in another thread doesn't mention emergency towing, but it does mention the possible transport of personnel, vehicles and equipment. I think that's a pretty clear indication of priorities.

You are twisting words now.


Again.

Question 10
What is the primary role for the EPV?

Answer 10
It is intended that the vessel will undertake a range of duties including, fishery protection, search and rescue, maritime protection, drug interdiction, anti-pollution and maritime security duties, including vessel boarding - 90% of which will relate to fishery protection. On limited occasions it may be used to carry personnel, military vehicles and equipment.

That is what the EPV is for.

[thebig C]

Remember this? http://www.greenparty.ie/en/news/new...hits_the_rocks

Wait a second, aren't they in Government now?

[thebig C]

Coastguard and anti-pollution vessels from Rolls-Royce

27 June 2007

More authorities are specifying Rolls-Royce ship designs and equipment for coastguard and anti-pollution vessels. Maritime states are increasingly aware of threats to their coastlines and exclusive economic zones (EEZ). The nature and seriousness of the threats varies from state to state. They may include fisheries control and prevention of illegal fishing, emergency towing of ships with engine or steering failure which represent a pollution hazard if they drift ashore, and pollution control and clean up should the worst happen. In addition come a host of other coastguard functions.

One type which has come into prominence in recent years focusses on emergency towing, pollution control and oil spill recovery. Over the years, Europe has suffered several major oil spill incidents which have caused grave environmental damage, economic loss and public outcry. The Torrey Canyon and Amoco Cadiz alerted Britain and France to the risks. More recently the Braer incident in Shetland and the sinking of the tankers Erica and Prestige off the French and Spanish coasts have also encouraged governments and authorities to have more and better equipment available. The risk is not just from tankers. A few hundred tonnes of heavy bunker fuel can cause havoc along the coastline as the Rocknes and Server incidents in Norway show, and large container ships with large quantities of bunkers are a potential hazard, demonstrated by the MSC Napoli casualty on the Channel coast of England.

Rolls-Royce has built up extensive experience in designing and equipping ships that are stable and efficient working platforms and provide safe and comfortable living conditions for the crew. In each case the design is accompanied by a package of Rolls-Royce equipment and systems.

Iceland
The latest contract to be signed covers the design and equipment for a vessel ordered for the Icelandic coastguard, Landhelgisgæsla Islands. This multipurpose coastguard vessel is to be built by ASMAR in Chile. On completion in 2009 it will perform a variety of tasks, including coastguard duties and management of Iceland’s exclusive economic zone, fishery control, standby and rescue, emergency towing, pollution prevention, oil recovery and fire fighting. The new ship will replace Odin, one of Iceland’s three elderly but much respected existing coastguard vessels. It will have to operate over a very large area in a region with challenging weather conditions. At the same time increased tanker traffic, particularly on the north west Russia to USA route, presents a pollution risk to Iceland’s easily damaged coastlines.

The starting point for the design was the Norwegian coastguard vessel KV Harstad which is a UT512. This vessel entered service at the beginning of 2005 and has proved very successful. Although the capabilities required of the Icelandic and Norwegian vessels overlap they are not identical, so the new ship for Iceland is 10m longer and also faster. The design has been given the type number UT512L and the ship will have an easily propelled hull with a bulb bow, a long forecastle, a foredeck gun turret, a large wheelhouse set well back from the bow, and a working deck aft. It will have a speed of more than 20 knots and accommodation for 48 people in single and two berth cabins. A bollard pull of about 110 tonnes has been specified so that in emergency the new vessel will be able to tow stricken tankers of up to about 200,000dwt.

Rolls-Royce is supplying a package of equipment and systems to go with the design. Two Bergen main engines each rated at 4,500kW will provide the power in a twin screw arrangement with shaft generators on the main gearboxes and CP propellers. Although a substantial bollard pull is needed the high speed requirement made open water propellers the favoured solution. A Rolls-Royce dynamic positioning system will meet the IMO DP1 standard, working in conjunction with a Poscon joystick system to control the engines, propellers, high lift flap rudders with independent steering gear and the four thrusters. The thruster outlet comprises two 450kW tunnel thrusters at the bow together with an 883kW swing up azimuth thruster and there will be a third tunnel thruster installed in the stern skeg. The machinery can be run in several modes, reducing the amount of energy needed to satisfy the vessel’s many operating profiles and so minimising the environmental footprint.

Spain
Two coastal protection vessels of Rolls-Royce design have been delivered to the Spanish safety authority SASEMAR. The first, Don Inda, was handed over at the end of 2006 and was followed by Clara Campoamor in March 2007. They represent a massive strengthening of resources for emergency towing of vessels in trouble, salvage work if the worst happens and both minimising the impact of oil spills and skimming up floating oil.

SASEMAR wanted vessels that are very good at towing, with a large installed tower and powerful winches. Oil spill control and recovery was also a very high priority. The well proven UT 722 L offshore design proved to be a good starting point. However, the Spanish vessels are purpose designed and have a much deeper hull than the offshore design. Don Inda is 80m long with a beam of 18m. Four 8 cylinder Bergen B32:40 engines produce a total of 16,000 kW and are coupled in pairs to two CP propellers. The inner engine of each pair drives a fire pump. The result is a bollard pull of about 220 tonnes together with a maximum sped of 17.6 knots. The two drum hydraulic Rolls-Royce towing winch is matched to the bollard pull. In some situations these SASEMAR vessels will be required to push disabled ships, so there is a very large bow fender and an escort winch on the foredeck.

A comprehensive range of oil booms and skimming equipment enables Don Inda and its sister to clear oil pollution both on the open sea and in more restricted waters. Oil booms can be set out and skimmers deployed to collect oil. In confined waters, two 15m long floating arms can be deployed from the ship’s side in a wide vee shape. The vessel moves through the oil spill sweeping oil towards the recovery pumps.

An important feature of these two vessels is the extremely large tank capacity for recovered oil, amounting to about 1,730m³. But compared with other vessels with recovered oil capacity this figure can be multiplied because an oil separation system is built in. Instead of the typical 50:50 mix of recovered oil and water pumped to the tanks, the separator discharges back to the sea water of a cleanliness meeting environmental regulations, so that the tanks are filled with about 95% oil and only 5% water. Recovered oil can be heated for pumping to another vessel or ashore so that in the event of a massive oil spill, the SASEMAR vessels can act as both oil spill recoverers and as pumping vessels.

France
Les Abeilles International in Groupe Bourbon is operating two coast protection vessels of Rolls-Royce design on charter to the French navy. Abeille Bourbon and Abeille Liberté were built by Myklebust Verft in Norway. The former is stationed in Brest and the latter in Cherbourg. The principal French requirements were to provide assistance to vessels at sea, deep sea towing, salvage of vessels in distress, fire and flooding control and antipollution activity. To met these requirements the UT 515 design was developed, and on trials Abeille Bourbon demonstrated a bollard pull of over 200 tones together with a speed of 19.8 knots at the maximum continuous engine rating corresponding to about 16,000kW. On deck Abeille Bourbon and sister are essentially laid out as deep sea towing and salvage tugs with a large two drum hydraulic winch.

The two new vessels have taken over at these key locations from the salvage tugs Abeille Flandres and Abeille Languedoc which were type UT 507 and built in 1978 and 1979. The old vessels have been very successful and remain in service but have moved to other locations.

UK
Some years ago the United Kingdom recognised the need for emergency towing and pollution prevention vessels to protect its long coastline. Following extensive studies the emergency towing vessel programme was put into action and Klyne Tugs won an eight year contract to station vessels on standby at key locations. The four broad operating areas are the Channel western approaches, Straits of Dover, Northern Scotland, and the west coast of Scotland. Two of the vessels were purpose built to a Rolls-Royce UT 719 T design derived from the multifunctional UT 719 offshore hull but optimised for the task, with a focus on towing and pollution prevention. Anglian Princess and Anglian Sovereign were built in China by Yantai Raffles and were delivered in 2002 and 2003. Recently Klyne Tugs won a two year extension to their contract from the UK Maritime and Coastguard Agency MCA. through to 2011.

India
In India the first of three coastguard vessels for the Indian Navy is being fitted out at the ABG Shipyard. These three ships are specially designed by Rolls-Royce, have the type number UT 517 and the contract includes a full package of Rolls-Royce equipment.


Australia
In August 2006 the Australian government finalised a long term charter that bases the Swire Pacific Offshore UT 738 ETV Pacific Responder in Cairns to provide emergency towing services covering the northern Great Barrier Reef and the Torres Strait region.
Pacific Responder was built by Pan United in Indonesia to the UT 738 design. The 64.3m long, 80 tonne bollard pull anchorhandling tug supply vessel has been modified for its new ETV role."