Schottel Supplying Units For Chinese Tug

Schottel secured a contract to provide propulsion units for a harbor tug under construction at Tongfang Jiangxin Shipbuilding in China.

This new tugboat, ordered by the Taizhou Maritime Safety Administration, will be equipped with two Schottel Rudderpropellers, type SRP 430, featuring four-bladed controllable-pitch propellers of 2.40 m in diameter. Each of the azimuth thrusters will be driven by a 1920 kW diesel engine at 750 rpm. This configuration will provide an expected bollard pull of 60 tonnes and a free running speed of approximately 13 knots.

“Taizhou is an area where a lot of small fishing vessels operate, often facing typhoons,” said Hou Wei, assistant general manager at Tongfang Jiangxin Shipbuilding. “We opted for azimuth thrusters from Schottel because of their strong position in the market and traceable record of high product quality as well as service availability.”

The 45.00 m long and 12.60 m wide tug is built primarily for vessel rescue and pollution prevention near shore as well as for towing operations. Moreover, it is designed for oil spill recovery, firefighting and human rescue operations, the company said.

The Schottel VarioDuct SDV45 nozzle offers high free running efficiency combined with very good bollard pull performance. In conjunction with optimally designed propeller geometries, the outstanding performance characteristics of the nozzle come to the fore.

The new tug is set to enter operation by the end of 2020.