TUGS DELIVERED

2 July 2003

Maputo Port Development Company (MPDC) announces that two powerful harbour tugs, part of a US$70 million capital investment programme, were delivered on Tuesday 1 July to the Port of Maputo.

One of the two sister tugs, just before discharge into the water

The tugs arrived after a 3 weeks voyage from Hong Kong on board the heavy lift ship ´Da Zhong´. The 14.000 tonnes vessel, operated by Big Lift from Amsterdam, is equipped with 250 tonnes cranes and off-loaded the harbour tugs directly into the still waters of Maputo Harbour. The discharge of the harbour tugs, each weighing 280 tonnes, was completed in twelve hours.

The highly manoeuvrable and modern sister tugs, each with a bollard pull of 37 tonnes and driven by twin Z-Peller diesel propulsion units, rated at 3,000 BHP @ 3,000 RPM, have been purchased form Hong Kong Salvage & Towage, Hong Kong’s largest marine engineering company.

´This type of specialised craft is a novelty for the Port of Maputo, both technically but also in terms of operation. A considerably smaller crew than the old conventional crew is needed to handle each of the tugs and this is a good improvement in efficiency´, commented Ken Shirley, MPDC’s Operations Director.

Highly experienced Hong Kong personnel arrived last Sunday in Maputo to start the commissioning programme. This will include a three-month ´hands-on´ training course after which the Mozambican crews will take full control of their vessels.

´This concept of technology transfer, offered by Hong Kong Salvage and Towage Company, is part of a modern and professional international service. They provide similar training all over the world and we feel privileged to tap into that experience’, said Ken Shirley.

The tugs are registered in Maputo and will go immediately into service.

FURTHER INFORMATION:
Sonia Mota
Tel: +258 1 313 920
Fax: +258 1 313 921
E-mail: sonia.mota@portmaputo.com
Picture available upon request.