Damen has signed a contract with Kuwait Oil Company (KOC) for the construction of 14 of its ASD Tugs to assist tankers at Kuwait’s nearshore loading terminals and at new moorings further offshore.
An extensive process of yard prequalification and tender evaluation finally resulted in an award to Damen earlier this year. The ASD series consist of two types, with nine tugs of Damen’s 3212 model and five units of the 2810 design, providing 80 and 50 tons of bollard pull, respectively.
As part of KOC’s long term strategy of increasing the country’s export capacity, substantial investments are being made to expand the marine facilities in coming years. While being based on existing Damen designs, these tugs have been tailored to fit KOC’s requirements on layout, systems and performances.
The co-operation between KOC and Damen goes back to late 1980’s, when Damen delivered steel crew and pilot tenders and the large fire fighting and terminal tug “Sabahi” to KOC.
In the early 90s, after liberation from the Iraqi invasion, Damen delivered an entirely new fleet of tugs, crew tenders, work boats and mooring boats, and has technically supported ever since.
The delivery of the 14 vessels is scheduled from 2014 onwards.