Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Port Welcomes New Tug Maungatea


Above: The Maungatea reversing for the first time onto 
Waitohi wharf as she arrives at her new home port.

Port Marlborough today announced the arrival in Picton of its recently purchased tug the Maungatea.  The Maungatea was formerly owned by Port Napier and until recently operated in that Port.
The Maungatea replaces the current tug the Kokiri which is owned by PB Seatow and has been operated on contract to Port Marlborough customers. Seatow have provided a tug since 1999.
The Maungatea is a 32t bollard pull harbour tractor tug and was designed by Eken and Doherty and built by Whangarei Engineering. The vessel has an overall length of 29.2m and gross tonnage of 250t. The tug features twin forward mounted Z-Propeller Azimuth propulsion units with a deep aft skeg.
The increasing size of vessels visiting the port necessitated the sourcing of a larger capacity tug to service Port Marlborough’s shipping customers and will allow greater alignment with shipping customer’s requirements and expectations. 
The tug will be operated by MSMP Ltd (a fully owned subsidiary of Port Marlborough) and manned by a part time team crew who have received training on the job while the tug was in Napier.
Port Marlborough would like to thank PB Seatow and the Picton crew for their years of service. 

~ Press Release