The contract for construction and delivery of two multipurpose vessels for Maritime Authorities in Szczecin and Gdynia was signed at headquarters of Szczecin Maritime Authority (Urząd Morski w Szczecinie) on March 5, 2018.
The contracted vessels will be built at Remontowa Shipbuilding S.A., according to design developed by Remontowa Marine Design & Consulting (RMDC) – both based in Gdańsk and being members of Remontowa Holding Capital Group. The contract signed is resulting from technical dialogue and conclusion of a tender. The contract was signed by Piotr Dowżenko, President and Dariusz Jaguszewski, Member of the Board, representing Remontowa Shipbuilding S.A. and by Wojciech Zdanowicz, Head of Szczecin Maritime Authority.
The delivery of the two vessels is expected until June 2020.
Multipurpose vessels in every-day operations will be performing the key statute tasks of the Maritime Authorities in Gdynia and Szczecin, mainly the maintenance and renewal / updating of waterways signage (buoys, etc.), i.e. the transport, replacement (hauling and launching), replacement and inspection of buoys. The vessels will be also outfitted for hydrographic tasks (including depth measurement, data processing, map amendment), etc.
In case of emergency at sea they will be capable of emergency response, sea towage, oil spill recovery, firefighting and other rescue (SAR) and salvage tasks. During winter they may be used for iced waterways clearance / icebreaking. Ice strengthening and features of sea-going icebreaker will enhance their year-round buoy tender capabilities.
The new vessels are about to replace aging buoy tenders of the B91 type, delivered also by Stocznia Północna (currently Remontowa Shipbuilding SA) – Planeta and Zodiak (approx. 61 m long, 11.8 m wide, with 3.2 m draught and gross tonnage of 905/750), put into operation in 1982.
Each of the new vessels will be approx. 60 m long overall, 12.8 m wide and have a draught of some 3.5 up to 4.0 m. The vessels will feature deadweight capacity of 350 t and gross tonnage of 1273. The top speed achieved will be 15 knots and the bollard pull will be 40 T.
Designing such a versatile vessel is always quite a challenge, as it requires careful balancing of priorities comparing to single-purpose, specialized vessels, requiring less compromises.
With superstructure located fore, midship section and stern will offer a spacious working deck for buoy handling and storage, served by a crane with 10 t SWL and 25 m outreach. The towage capability will be effected by a 400 kN SWL towing hook.
The vessel, in general arrangement, resembles an OSV, however it requires application of a hull form effective in iced waters and a variety of functionalities, besides key role as a buoy tender.
Flexible diesel-electric propulsion system, with two stern azimuthing thrusters and a tunnel thruster fore will provide excellent maneuverability, further enhanced by a DP system.
For fire-fighting tasks the vessel will be outfitted with two water-foam monitors, installed on superstructure, with a maximum water capacity of 1200 m³ per hour at 80 m range and the vessel itself will be protected by sprinkler (water curtain) system.
Rescue tasks will be supported by rescue device for retrieving persons from water (in form of Dacon Rescue Frame or Jason’s Cradle) and MOB / rescue / workboats, to be used also for hydrographic works.
The crew will be accommodated in five single berth and eight two person cabins. The vessel will also have room for short term accommodating of up to 80 rescued survivors.