TRIESTE – It is called TUGA and it has been realised thanks to the collaboration with the Italian branch of Engys and with the University of Trieste. The tugboat project powered by liquefied gas was presented yesterday on the web by the Trieste-based company Marine Engineering Services srl. The Maritime Technology Cluster FVG – mareFVG, a consortium company dealing with maritime technologies, also played a leading role in the operation. The consortium is, in fact, due to the coordination of activities between the partners and the process of requesting and obtaining the European contribution.
Launched on October 1, 2018, the TUGA project has developed the elements for realising a tugboat for navigation assistance operations in restricted waters (indirect tug or escort), with the ability to contribute to manoeuvring the ship actively.
The unit is expected to be equipped with a liquefied gas propulsion system to reduce the environmental impact. The study aimed to implement gas propulsion on particular types of tugs, limiting the vessel’s dimensions (36 meters long by 14 meters wide for 8 crew members) and making it competitive when compared to units with traditional propulsion currently in use.
To achieve this result, the project has studied the correct arrangement of the fuel containment system (80 cubic meters of LNG) and optimizing the geometries while taking care of the safety requirements.
The analysis has been integrated by the research and realisation of a calculation code to determine the dynamic equilibrium in the “escort operations”. The project has also developed software tools for the simulation of the rigid motion of the tug subject to hydrodynamic forces of towing and propulsion. The results have been validated through research activities and experimental tests in “ship model basin.”.
The total budget was 937,149.54 euros, with a contribution of 614,765.19 euros from the European Regional Development Fund for Friuli Venezia Giulia (POR-FESR 2014-2020).