Caspian Offshore Construction has ordered six new tugs from Shipyard De Hoop in the Netherlands. At least four of these tugs will be ice-class and designed to operate in the icy northern Caspian waters off Kazakhstan.
De Hoop said it had been working on design and engineering of these six tugboats this year and received the construction orders this quarter. Four of the newbuildings will be ice-class azimuthing stern drive (ASD) tug and push boats, each with bollard pulls of around 39 tonnes.
Another two vessels will be shallow draught harbour tugs with bollard pulls of 30 tonnes. They will be operated by a consortium between Caspian Offshore Construction and Blue Water. This consortium provides marine services to energy companies developing the giant oilfields, including Kashagan, in the northern Caspian, which can be covered with up to 1 m ice in winter months.
