Polish Navy Receives First Of Six Ice-Class Tugs

The first of six multi-role tugs built by Remontowa Shipyard in Poland was delivered to the Polish Navy.

The propulsion system of the tugs consists of two ice-classed Schottel Rudderpropellers type SRP 360 with 2.0 m fixed pitch propellers. Each thruster is driven by an MTU 12V 4000 engine delivering a power of 1193 kW. As a result, the tugs will achieve a bollard pull of up to 35 tonnes and a free-running speed of 12 knots.

The Polish tugs will be used for military and logistical operations support at sea and in ports as well as for technical evacuations, personnel transfers, search and rescue operations and oil spill recovery. Thanks to FSIC IA ice class reinforcement, these vessels can also be deployed in the Baltic Sea at any time of the year.

Operation in regions where ice is present places special demands on propulsion systems. Over the years, Schottel has built up a vast amount of experience in this field. Today, the German manufacturer of propulsion systems offers a series of ice-class-strengthened azimuth thrusters up to Finnish-Swedish ice class IA Super.

The Schottel Group, with its headquarters in Spay/Rhine, is a leading manufacturer of steerable propulsion systems for ships and offshore applications. Founded in 1921, the company has been developing and manufacturing azimuth propulsion and complete propulsion systems with power ratings of up to 30 MW for vessels of all sizes and types, for 70 years.