On June 15th 2018, a steel-cutting ceremony took place for a RAstar 3800-DF (dual-fuel) at Jiangsu Zhenjiang Shipyard in China. This first-ever RAstar 3800-DF tug is the 10th custom designed vessel by Robert Allan Ltd. in close collaboration with owner Ningbo Zhoushan Port Company Ltd. in China.
The vessel will also be the first Robert Allan Ltd. designed dual-fuel tug to operate in China and just the 5th Chinese LNG-fuelled tug. Present at the momentous occasion were Mr. Juncheng Lu, General Manager and Mr. Jiating Chen, Vice General Manager of the Oil Handling & Tug (Barge) Branch of the Ningbo Zhoushan Port Co., Ltd.
The new RAstar 3800-DF tug will be powered by a pair of Niigata 8L28AHX-DF dual-fuel engines, each driving a Rolls-Royce US 255 CP Z-drive, and delivering a bollard pull of close to 80 tonnes. The tug will have an LNG capacity of 55 m³, suitable for a range of over 700 nautical miles in LNG mode, and nearly 1700 nautical miles in diesel mode.
Robert Allan Ltd. is the world leader in the design of LNG tugs, having designed the RAstar 4000-DF for Østensjø Rederi, Norway and RAmparts 2800-DF for PSA Marine, Singapore.
Source: Robert Allan