Robert Allan Ltd. announced on Tuesday (Jan19) that Shanghai Harbour Fuxing Shipping Service Company Sanlin Shipyard has successfully completed the 3680 kW RAmparts 3200-W tug Hai Gang 501 which will provide service at Shanghai Port. This will be the first Robert Allan Ltd. tug to operate in China’s busiest port which has also been the world’s busiest container port for the last decade.

First Robert Allan Ltd. tug to operate in China’s busiest port, the Port of Shanghai

As part of the RAmparts series, this new tugboat is designed for berthing and unberthing large vessels in harbour and is also capable of coastal towing services due to its exceptional sea keeping performance. This design was altered slightly to suit the selected machinery and equipment and the accommodation arrangement that the crews are familiar with.

The entire tug fleet owned by Shanghai Harbour Fuxing Shipping Company are named Hai Gang which translates as “harbour” in the Chinese language. Sanlin Shipyard had built more than ten Robert Allan Ltd. designed tugs for its domestic and international clients before building Hai Gang 501 for its mother company.

The vessel’s accommodations are outfitted to MLC compliant standards for a crew of up to ten personnel. There are six single cabins and two of 2-crew cabins arranged in the deckhouse and lower accommodation deck.

Main propulsion for the tug comprises a pair of Niigata 6L28HX main engines, each rated at 1840 kW at 750 rpm, driving a cardan shaft system to a Niigata ZP-41A Z-Peller propulsion unit with a 2,600 mm diameter fixed pitch propeller.

Ship handling fenders at the bow consists of an upper 800 x 400 mm cylindrical fender with a lower course of W type fender. A 300 x 300 hollow “D” fender provides protection at the main deck sheer line and along the knuckle, and W type fender is used at the stern.

The deck machinery comprises a Karmoy hawser winch on the bow, spooled with 250 m line on each drum. With twin anchor windlass at bow beside hawser winch and a Karmoy towing winch provided on aft deck.

The tug was designed and constructed to the following CCS Notation:

★CSAD, Tug/Fire Fighting Class 1; Coastal Area; ★CSMD, IBS

Other particulars of the Hai Gang 501 are:

  • Length, overall (excluding fenders): 32.0 m
  • Beam, moulded: 12.0 m
  • Depth, least moulded: 5.42 m
  • Maximum draft (navigational): 5.29 m
  • Gross Tonnage: 498

Main tank capacities at 100% are:

  • Fuel oil: 190 m3
  • Potable water: 31 m3
  • Ballast: 86 m3
  • Fire-fighting foam: 7 m3

Trial results were as follows:

  • Bollard pull, ahead: 68.2 t
  • Free running speed, ahead: 13.3 Knots

Additional information about Shanghai Port at CruiseMapper