New tugboats from Robert Allan Ltd. of Vancouver are more powerful than traditional tugs and are designed to guide large tankers in and out of port.
New class of vessel will 'dwarf existing tugs,' company says
Designers of a new generation of "monster" tugboat say the vessel will help safeguard British Columbia's coastal waters against a marine catastrophe the size of the Exxon Valdez spill.
"A tanker is a machine, and things can go wrong. Having this tug attached to the stern is a very proactive safety device," says Robert Allan, the 67-year-old executive chairman of Robert Allan Ltd., the Vancouver naval-engineering firm behind the new RAstar series of escort tugs.
The company, founded by Allan's grandfather in the 1930s, is expected to be a major supplier of tugboat technology to the burgeoning oil and gas industry in Northern B.C. Its Raincoast Guardian tugs, envisioned for use in the shipment of crude oil as part of the Northern Gateway Project, will be "the largest and most capable of this class operating anywhere in the world," according to the company.
Smaller versions of the company's escort tugs are currently used around the world to guide large tankers in and out of port.
Allan credits the Exxon Valdez spill with spurring innovation in the specialized world of naval architecture. In the last 20 years, demand for bigger, more powerful tugs has climbed as laws on transporting oil and gas have become tougher. The environmental damage resulting from the 1989 oil spill off Prince William Sound in Alaska still ranks as one of the worst human-caused environmental disasters.
The company is anticipating demand to climb dramatically over the next few years as oil and gas projects along the Northern B.C. coast reach completion. The B.C. government has said it expects at least three liquefied natural gas (LNG) export plants to be operating by 2020. Meanwhile, Ottawa gave its approval earlier this year, subject to conditions and support from aboriginal communities, to the Northern Gateway Project. The pipeline would bring as much as 525,000 barrels of oil from Alberta every day to a supertanker port in Kitimat, B.C., for global export.
Escort tugboats, such as the RAstar, are designed to provide emergency steering and braking to a tanker carrying oil or gas. While a conventional harbour tug typically assists ships travelling below five knots, escort tugs are used as tankers move through bigger waves at speeds of up to 12 knots.
It requires a powerful engine, a prominent forward keel and a unique hull design – which Allan likens to that of an outrigger canoe – to give the tug enough stability to control, and even stop, a large, heavy tanker that is running off course.
How the super tugboats will work
Current escort tugs range in size and power, depending on the vessel's primary function and environmental conditions. Smaller vessels, about 30 metres in length and 6,000 horsepower, cost about $10-million, says Allan.
By comparison, the average coastal barge-towing tug has a 4,000-horsepower engine, says Allan. Those proposed for the Northern Gateway project are expected to cost about $30-million each.
The company says two tugs will escort every laden tanker en route from Kitimat. One free-running tug will be tasked with checking the route ahead of the ship, and a second tug with be tethered astern. Empty tankers will have one free-running escort.
The positioning of the vessels is considered a critical safety feature. "In that way, as soon as the ship starts to go off course, the tug is in a position to immediately act. If they had to come up and connect a line, they would lose valuable minutes," says Allan.
At 50 metres long, with more than 10,000 horsepower, the tugs will generate corrective steering and braking forces of up to 200 tonnes at 10 knots, and they "will dwarf any existing tugs on the B.C. coast," the company says. They are also designed to perform rescue towing, should an unescorted tanker be disabled anywhere within the 320-kilometre limit of Canadian waters..
Gerald Graham, a consultant and oil-spill specialist in Victoria, agrees escort tugs will lower the risk of a catastrophic spill if a tanker were to lose power, but, he says, it's not a fail-safe solution. "Even the tugs can break down," Graham says.
Graham is among those who challenge Enbridge Inc.'s claim that the risk of spills associated with Northern Gateway is relatively low. Some critics forecast a risk of up to 14 per cent of a massive spill occurring over a 50-year period. But proponents say ships carrying oil already operate safely on Canada's coasts and Robert Allan Ltd. says its proposed enhancements, such as tethered tugs, slower speeds and navigation aids, would reduce the risks even more.
Allan says oil and gas shipping is never without risk, adding he, too, is concerned about potential environmental damage resulting from a spill.
"The other part of me says we need something in our economy to keep us going, and we are a resource-based economy," he says. "If we are going to export these resources, let's do it safely. And I believe we can do that."
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