New TRAnsverse tug arrives in Newcastle, Australia
Arrival of world-first tugboat design to Australia delivers generational advancement in marine services.
The Port of Newcastle‘s maritime capabilities are set for a significant enhancement with the arrival of the state-of-the-art TRAnsverse tug Svitzer Barrington, which will join Svitzer Australia‘s fleet at the port.
The 32-metre TRAnsverse tug represents a generational advancement in towage standards, innovation and performance Svitzer Australia’s Chief Operating Officer David Phillips said.
“This tug class is purpose-built for versatility and power, maintaining high steering and braking forces through a range of movements without losing the dynamism or responsiveness required by marine pilots,” Mr Phillips said.
“The arrival of Svitzer Barrington, soon to be joined by her sister tug, Svitzer Nobbys, represents our ongoing investment into Australian ports, helping them operate to the highest levels of safety, efficiency and in a way that helps our maritime sector grow in a more sustainable world.”
Behind the TRAnsverse tug’s impressive look and performance are unique design features, including a patented half-circle towing staple – able to support advanced towing manoeuvres – and a double-ended hull and propulsion layout that maximises the benefits of the staple design.
In dynamic modes the TRAnsverse tug expands the operating envelope by around 50% compared to similar or larger ASD tugs. The TRAnsverse tug performs a wider range of jobs, faster, more efficiently and to a generally higher level of safety. The tug has also been shown to provide a fuel efficiency gain of 15%.
Source: TRAnsverse Tug White Paper
Svitzer Barrington has been deployed to the Port of Newcastle as it is one of the busiest ports in Australia and services a range of large vessel types in complex tidal and weather conditions. The Newcastle operations will serve as a proving ground for the TRAnsverse tug technology, validating its performance for broader global deployment across various towage applications.
“Towage provides a critical service within the Port of Newcastle, ensuring the safety and reliability of shipping and port operations. The new TRAnsverse tug class represents a significant uplift in capability, further enhancing the Port of Newcastle’s resilience and growth into the future. We look forward to seeing Svitzer Barrington’s performance on the water and the additional flexibility she provides to our operations.”
Craig Carmody, CEO, Port of Newcastle
Svitzer Barrington during sea trials in Turkey
The port sees more than 4,500 vessel visits a year – including large capesize vessels shipping export coal, bulk grain and agri vessels, container ships, breakbulk freight, cruise vessels and more.
As vessels become larger, weather conditions more extreme and ports more congested, the demand for tugs to assist vessels safely in and out of ports and terminals continues to increase. The logical extension is that tugs have gradually needed to become more powerful, as well as more fuel intensive. However, the TRAnsverse tug’s design and technical features have shifted that assumption, as demonstrated in a recent white paper demonstrating the superiority of its performance.
Svitzer Barrington will be joined by her sister tug Svitzer Nobbys in August.
Watch the video of Svitzer Barrington’s arrival to the Port of Newcastle below.
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Svitzer Barrington, a TRAnsverse 3200 tug, arrives in Newcastle. Her arrival marks a step up in towage capability not only for the port but represents a generational advancement in towage standards, innovation and performance.
Svitzer Barrington Specifications
3200 TRAnsverse tug designed by Robert Allan Ltd and Svitzer
Length Overall: 32 metres
Beam: 13.7 metres
Operational Draft: Approximately 6.1 metres
Bollard Pull: 81 tonnes
Speed Astern: 14.4 knots
Speed Sideways: 7.5 knots
Maximum Escort Steering Force (10 knots): 124 tonnes
Maximum Braking Force (10 knots): 186 tonnes
Svitzer Barrington is one of four variants, the others measure 35m, 29m, and 26m.
The TRAnsverse tug delivers direct towage capability at higher speeds and seamlessly transitions to indirect (and back again), providing Pilots with greater control margin during transits or when shaping a turn in a limited navigable channel. The tug remains stable, holds force consistently, and recovers rapidly between vector changes.
The Magic Staple
The key to the TRAnsverse design lies in its patented “half-circle” staple which allows us to achieve a more optimal pivot point without any extra moving parts. The two azimuth drives are mounted centrally on the forward and aft end of the tug, rather than side by side. Combined with a hull form optimised for omnidirectional thrust, this arrangement allows the TRAnsverse to generate lateral force in any direction with reduced response time, making us far more agile than traditional setups.
The names of the new TRAnsverse tugs (Svitzer Barrington and Svitzer Nobbys) were selected recognizing connection as a pair of sister tugs of bringing in the Barrington Tops national park as the starting point of the Hunter River; flowing 460km to its entrance at Newcastle. It is a reflection of the entire Hunter Valley community (and wider region) relationship to the Port from a social, economic and geographic point of view.
Nobbys Head is then the mouth of the Hunter River and a prominent focal point for Newcastle – again from a local community point of view, everyone knows of Nobbys Head – but from a maritime point of view, every visiting crew know of the landmark, and mark it in the charts when arriving – not least its current and historic navigational significance as the first and last land formation that visiting vessels encounter in the Port of Newcastle..
Naming the Ship’s Bridge Simulator, ‘Hunter’, then nicely ties these elements of the river into the Simulator.
The Judging panel for the names included Newcastle Harbour Master Vikas Bangia, Mission to Seafarers Regional Director, Rev. Garry Dodd and new Training Superintendent charged with bringing the new TRAnsverse tugs into Newcastle, Master Ben Holder. Better known as the Harbour Master, the Master and the Pastor.
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