This month, having completed mooring and sea trials successfully, NIBULON has put into operation three tugs of the 121 project – Kremenchutskyi, KozatskyiandPereiaslavskyi which were laid down in August 2014 under the chairmanship of the Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko.
“NIBULON is a symbol of Ukraine, a symbol of Ukraine’s revival, the revival of Ukrainian agriculture, its working people, its engineering industry, the construction of ports and shipbuilding”, said Petro Poroshenko during his visit in summer, last year.
The Ukrainian President and NIBULON’s management have common aims in terms of prospects for the future in Ukraine, and they both agree that Ukraine must be a marine country and not a country at sea!
Today the company at its own NIBULON shipbuilding and repair yard, the only shipyard in Ukraine that constructs complete vessels, has developed and successfully implements a production program providing for a one hundred percent workload of the shipyard for the next five years.
The 121 project tugs (30 shipbuilders were involved in constructing them) prove that our company itself revives shipbuilding sector in Ukraine, constructing its own cargo fleet!
Being put into operation in June 2015, the tugs started to operate along the Southern Bug and later – along the Dnipro, the important waterway in Ukraine.
The given tugs are modern high-tech vessels that have mixed navigation class, meet the requirements of the European Union environmental legislation. The designer of the series of vessels is SUDOKOMPOSITE design office (Ukraine).
Due to the reduced draught, the tugs can be used on inland shallow waterways and will accompany non-self-propelled vessels of the NBL-91 project. For information: the draught of the NBL-90 project non-self-propelled vessels comprises 3.56 m, the NBL-91 project vessels will have 2.7 m draught. The POSS-115 project tugs are of 2.54 m draught, and the draught of the 121 project vessels will comprise 1.6 m.
The new tugs will operate along the Dnipro, the Southern Bug and their adjacent tributaries as well as along the Black Sea, the Sea of Azov and the Kerch Strait.
Main technical characteristics: class – KM * Ice2 B-R4-RSN3,0 AUT3 NAV-1 Tug; overall length – about 27.88 m; overall breadth – 9 m; displacement – 254 tons; midship depth– 2.7 m; maximum above-water overall height with elevated wheelhouse and mast – 17.6 m; lightship speed – 10 knots and convoy speed – about 4.5 knots. NIBULON used shipbuilding steel Grade A, D to construct the hull and wheelhouse.
NIBULON used about 20.5 thousand hull parts and parts of the mechanical and fitter area per one vessel.
The company installed radio communication and navigation equipment, namely ultra-short-wave radiotelephone terminals, satellite ERB of COSPAS-SARSAT system, two-way VHF radiotelephone communication as well as magnetic compass, radiolocation stations and eco-sounding devices.
The 121 project pusher tug is a one-decked vessel with a single-tier deckhouse on the upper deck and the lifting pilot house (all-round view) in the forebody. The vessel is equipped with towknees to push; towing hook to tow aft; with two left-hand and right-hand rudder propellers (360-degree rotation) and two main engines.
The pusher tug is intended to tow non-self-propelled vessels, to escort group of tugs in the limited water areas (locks, river bends and others); to form a convoy of non-self-propelled vessels, to perform mooring operations in port waters, to scatter ice in order to prepare operational waterway for mooring in winter and to transport officials (committees) in port waters and coastal navigation areas.
The peculiarity of the 121 project tugs is the engine room location. In particular, the main engines with satellite service systems and shafts that transmit torque to rudder propellers are located on the upper deck in the insulated containers. The company has made such a decision because of small draught of the vessel. This innovation enabled NIBULON to reduce the construction period considerably.
The lifting wheelhouse fixing in the upper position ensures complete visibility when towing. The tug’s endurance reaches up to 10 days without refueling.
All the technological stages of vessel’s construction, from the fabrication and hull formation to the mooring and sea trials, are conducted by NIBULON’s shipbuilders with the participation of domestic and foreign contractors.
NIBULON installed modern equipment of the leading foreign producers, in particular Pliontech Services, Poland; ZF Marine Krimpen b.v., the Netherlands; AB Volvo Penta, Sweden; Almava Consulting & Trading Sprl, Belgium; AMCO Metall-Service GmbH, Germany; Lion Rubber Industries Pvt. Ltd., India; Bombas Azcue S.A., Spain; PAROC OY AB, Finland; DMT Design S.A., Romania; Telco Fabrikker AS, Norway; BARATTA s.r.l., Italy and others.
Our company realizes a difficult situation in the domestic economy and also its responsibility. Thus, constructing vessels, we are increasing domestic component in our own shipbuilding orders (from hull metal to furniture), involving new Ukrainian producers.
NIBULON’s shipbuilders installed equipment produced by the Ukrainian company-suppliers, and namely Khladotechnica Ltd., Ukrainian Scientific and Research Institute of Shipbuilding Technology PJSC, NAK Commercial and Industrial Company Ltd., Tranzas Ukraine Ltd., Neptun-Electro LS Ltd., SE Sudmash, BRIG Ltd., ODEK Ukraine Ltd., KRONOSPAN UA Ltd., Kherson Shipbuilding Company Ltd.
NIBULON’s shipbuilding program started in the crucial times for our country, on December 01, 2013, when Ukraine woke up as a new country, being ready to struggle for its future and to achieve the acknowledgment in the international community. We are sure that our example and desire to struggle for Ukraine’s future and to implement ideas for reviving Ukrainian navigation will inspire our defenders in eastern Ukraine.