Fratelli Neri orders first Damen ASD 3212 Tug with Render Recovery winch in Mediterranean
One of the largest Italian tug owners, Fratelli Neri S.p.A, ordered its first Damen tug, an ASD 3212, on 21 July 2015. The vessel will be the first ASD tug in the Mediterranean region with a Damen Render Recovery Escort winch, the shipbuilding group said in a press release.
The family-owned, Livorno-based harbour towage company has been in operation for over 100 years. Besides this new tug, the company has ordered two additional second-hand Stan tugs 2608 from Damen Trading.
“Damen’s well-known high quality construction and reliability, as well as fast delivery times, were the main reasons behind our decision to place this order. We are proud to add this Damen ASD 3212 tug to our fleet and quite confident that our Masters will enjoy using it. The tug will be used for port towage in the Mediterranean, although its versatility and performance do not preclude our using it elsewhere,” comments Fratelli Neri Chartering Manager, Corrado Neri.
“Our Group recently also took delivery of two second-hand Stan tugs 2608. Their technical characteristics match perfectly with the requirements of a tender awarded to us by a major foreign oil company. The proven concept design and long lasting quality of these tugs also drove our decision to purchase them.”
‘’We are extremely delighted that this prestigious Italian, family-owned company has purchased its first new Damen tug. The tug will be delivered by December 2015. It was on stock and customised with the Italian flag including fire-fighting – water spray – notation as well as oil recovery notation,” comments Damen Sales Manager North, West and South Europe, Andrea Trevisan.
This innovative tug design includes a completely revised hull form and a higher bow, resulting in better speed and a dry foredeck. The first ship handling tug winch in the world to be fully classified, its hydraulically powered, double drum winch has an impressive maximum brake holding load of 200 tonnes. This powerful tug with bollard pull of over 80 tonnes, and excellent seakeeping and manoeuvrability, can cope with higher wave heights when assisting large tankers and container vessels in open and challenging waters.
The Damen ASD Tug 3212 has undergone rigorous testing over the past few years, both at Damen’s own Research & Development Department and the Maritime Research Institute Netherlands (MARIN).
Staying connected to the assisted ship is vital for tug operation and very high peak loads can lead to the towline breaking. “The Render Recovery winch has proven it is far more reliable and faster in demanding sea escort operations in recovering a line than a normal winch is,” adds Mr. Trevisan.
Besides these three tugs, Fratelli Neri also purchased a Damen Stan Tender 1905, (LNG Express) in 2010. Built from a stock hull, it was delivered just six months after the contract was signed. The ‘LNG Express’ is used as a crew boat at the floating LNG terminal near Livorno, Italy.
