Friday, February 24, 2017

Newest Harley Marine Tug Begins Service

By Mark Edward Nero

The M/V Earl W Redd, the newest addition to the Harley Marine fleet of tugboats, is currently completing sea trials and preparing to enter service under the flag of Harley’s Olympic Tug & Barge unit.

The 120-foot tractor tug, which has a hull depth of about 19 feet and a breadth of 35 feet, was built by Diversified Marine Inc. in Portland, Oregon. It’s named after the father of Diversified President Kurt Redd. The vessel is slated to enter service as a provider of unrestricted coastal towing along the US West Coast. The tug is powered by Tier 4-compliant CAT engines coupled to Rolls-Royce azimuthing drives providing a bollard pull capability of 75 tons.

The tug’s deck equipment was supplied by Markey Machinery, including a two-winch suite of equipment consisting of a Markey TESD-34B-100HP double drum electric towing winch and a DEPC-48-50HP electric bow hawser winch with Render/Recover.

The TESD-34B-100HP towing winch is arranged to hold 2500 feet of 2-1/4” diameter wire rope on the starboard drum, and 1500 feet on the port drum. Barrel layer performance is rated at 193,000 pounds at stall; 129,000 pounds at 22 FPM; and 55,000 pounds at 43 FPM. The brake has a maximum holding capacity of 645,000 pounds.

The winch, powered by a 100-HP TENV inverter-duty electric motor controlled by a variable frequency drive, can provide full torque at continuous stall, and includes a hydraulically powered emergency “come home” drive motor in the event of electrical failure.

The DEPC-48-50HP bow hawser winch utilizes Markey’s render/recover technology to allow tug positioning while automatically maintaining an adjustable inhaul/payout constant tension on the line. It also includes a “freewheel” feature allowing for fast line payout or emergency escape.