TUGS, TOWING & SALVAGE
KOTUG HEADS INLAND
Credit:Kotug
Kotug International has established Kotug CityBarge BV an inland shipping division involving electrically powered pusher tugs along with its OptiPort automated dispatching system
8 Kotug’s electrically powered pusher tugs offer three modular size options
As the drive to make shiphandling tugs more environmentally friendly gathers pace, in parallel is work by ports such as Rotterdam to move freight away from increasingly congested road networks to other forms of transshipment such as inland waterways and rail, a process known as modal shift. Moving inland barges from fossil fuel to battery power offers an intriguing opportunity to avoid harmful emissions being simply transferred to other communities. Pusher tugs also offer enhanced utilisation swapping between barges rather than waiting for cargo operations as with conventional barges. Kotug International is well-placed to develop this concept, experienced in a range of towing from inland to deepsea and based in Rotterdam with connections to Europe’s inland waterway system. The project involves three modular and scalable electric E-Pusher tugs between 5.5m and 22m in length with draughts 40% less than conventional pushers. They are powered by swappable energy containers offering various fuel sources including stage V diesel, biogas, hydrogen and battery. Kotug’s OptiPort AI-driven dispatch and route planning application uses historical and real-time
information to optimise expected arrival and departure times, routing and speed controls and will be used by Kotug. OptiPort has been available since 2017 and currently in use in Australia, Japan, US, Canada, Belgium and the Netherlands. Kotug CityBarge BV is a partnership between Kotug and Circle Line Logistics BV and started activities recently with a 5.5m E-Pusher in the municipality of Leiden providing a ‘zeroemission alternative for heavy truck transport in inner-cities ... restoring inner-city waterways by using them to transport garbage, construction materials and retail products.’ Regional Inland Shipping Minister, Jeannette Baljeu said: “The Province of South Holland is involved since the start of the project around reinstating waterways as a means of transport with the development of the CityBarge, the smallest version of the E-pusher. Clean transport is one of our priorities, by bringing together business and government to solve mutual challenges, solutions like the E-Pusher are no longer just paper ideas but market-ready products. I strongly believe in the concept; it improves the liveability in cities and boosts the growth of tech industries in the province of South Holland and beyond.”
Lessons learned from tug accident
16 | JULY 2021
8 The position of each crewman during the operation is illustrated here
TM copyright
Transport Malta has identified lessons after a tug crew member was seriously injured in a fall from his vessel to the quay. The tug was alongside a wharf with two crew tasked with changing the cover of its rescue boat located on the accommodation forward of the wheelhouse. One crewmember stepped on the unprotected outboard side of the rescue boat, using the drenching curtain pipe as his footing to ease the hoisting arrangement tension, release the hook and pass the lifting slings through the new cover’s opening. There then followed a sequence including where various controls for the lifting arrangement were operated but the crewmember involved activated the crane’s slewing mechanism which dragged the boat
outboard pushing the crewmember horizontally where he fell on to the wharf. His injuries included several broken bones and lacerations requiring surgery and he was discharged from hospital 13 days later. The investigation by Transport Malta’s
Marine Safety Investigation Unit included a detailed technical examination of the crane’s hydraulic and operating system and concluded the slewing mechanism was activated accidentally leading to the fall. It established that a risk assessment was not considered necessary for the task and identified that the crewman moved outboard where no guard rails were fitted and was not wearing a safety harness or helmet. It concluded the crew members were not entirely familiar with the davit operation and that during drills only the engineers actuated the davit’s controls and was always carried out from the local control station.
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