Second tug sets sail from shipyard
Qunu is the second of nine new tugboats to be launched.
WITH two down and seven to go, Transnet National Ports Authority’s (TNPA) second 70-ton bollard pull tugboat set sail on Thursday, 7 July.
TNPA tugboat, ‘Qunu’, left its building yard at Southern African Shipyards, in Durban for its new home in Port Elizabeth.
It is the second tugboat commissioned in the R1.4-billion large-scale fleet replacement project, following on from ‘Mvezo’.
The project will see a pair of tugs operating in each of the ports of Durban, Richards Bay and Port Elizabeth with three in Saldanha.
“TNPA’s new fleet will include nine tugs that are 31 metres long with a 70-ton bollard pull. The older tugs have 32.5 to 40 ton pulls. The increased bollard pull of these new generation tugs meets international standards and they also feature the latest global technology.
The tugs have Voith Schneider propulsion which makes them highly manoeuvrable and able to change direction and thrust almost instantaneously, while guiding large vessels safely into our ports,” said TNPA programme manager, senior marine engineer Thandi Mehlo.
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