Reinauer Transportation Co. is seemingly getting its money's worth out of the Rhode Island shipyard it acquired in 2006. The company expects to take delivery this summer on the third new tugboat built by the yard with an equal number of new barges and in-house conversions and retrofits already under its belt.
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New ATB tug Reinauer Twins, the 14th ATB unit to join the Reinauer fleet, is expected to be completed later this year at the company's Senesco Shipyard, in North Kingston, R.I. (Photo courtesy Reinauer Transportation) |
The 4,720-hp tug Reinauer Twins is third in a series of so-called Facet Tug designs developed by naval architects of Ocean Tug & Barge Engineering and built by Senesco Marine in North Kingstown, R.I. While the design is intended to allow easy construction of double-skin fuel tanks, and double bottom in way of the engine room, it also involves construction entirely without curved plating or faired hull shape, a technique sure to save money. The first two tugs in the series were delivered in 2009 and 2010. These tugs are matched up with new 414-foot, 100,000-bbl oil barges. They are joined together with Intercon C-series coupler systems.
Naval architect Robert Hill said the construction technique involves using a combination of planned, angular, flat plates with each angle of each plate chosen for optimal water flow and displacement for the finished hull. Folks at Reinauer are fond of referring to these boats as “stealth tugs†because they resemble the look of the U.S. B-2 stealth bomber.
While the first two tugs in the Facet design series had aluminum pilothouse towers, this latest tug is built entirely of steel, primarily because rules for the SOLAS rating do not allow aluminum structures for towers or pilothouses.
Regarding her SOLAS rating, this latest tug also differs from her sisters by virtue of an additional emergency generator, additional insulation and electronics, installation of an engine-order telegraph in the wheelhouse, installation of GMDSS among wheelhouse electronics, presence of a rescue boat and davit on the boat deck, and additional firefighting and life-saving equipment.
Like her sisterships, Reinauer Twins is powered by MTU 16v-4000 M60 diesels rated at 2,360 hp at 1,800 rpm. Propulsion comes from Lufkin 7.5:1 marine gears and three-bladed NautiCan 104-inch propellers with NautiCan nozzles and triple-shutter rudders.
John Deere generators provide auxiliary electric power with a third emergency generator installed to handle needs associated with her SOLAS rating. The tugs are designed to cruise at a steady 10 knots when pushing their loaded barges. Those barges were designed by Guarino & Cox of Covington, La. New tugs in this series are also compatible with numerous other ATB barges operating in the Reinauer fleet.
Reinauer Twins is the 14th articulated tug-barge combination in the Reinauer fleet. These involve a mix of coupler systems by both Intercon and the Beacon Finland JAK system.
Reinauer Transportation, a family-owned company based in New York, in addition to owning Senesco Marine, also owns Boston Towing with an expanding component of azimuthing stern drive tractor tugs, and the Reicon Group, a Staten Island-based marine construction company.
In all the company owns close to two-dozen tugboats and more than 30 oil barges.
