Voith Turbo Marine has entered into a strategic partnership with Ridderinkhof, specialist and manufacturer of winches from the Netherlands. When being quoted for a Voith Turbo propulsion system, customers of escort, terminal and harbor tugs or offshore vessels will in future also be offered a customized winch system.
Voith Turbo Marine Engineering in Rostock has made it its goal to develop and design complete ships. Just recently, the company presented the concept of a Voith Water Tractor (VWT) with a bollard pull of 70 tons. VWTs with such a high bollard pull are used for a wide range of terminal, harbor, escort and offshore duties. Especially the worldwide growing market for Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) terminals, which are set up further and further away from coastlines due to safety reasons, is a classic application area for such vessels.
The Wave Winch from Ridderinkhof is an electrically powered winch system that automatically moves the rope between tug and tanker precisely within this power range. Customer statements to Ridderinkhof have confirmed that the handling during escorting maneuvers is very much improved, especially in difficult operating conditions, during escorting and berthing in high waves.
The Wave Winch system can contribute to the high maneuverability of the Voith Water Tractor.
Project Safetug
The combination of the Voith Turbo VWT and the Ridderinkhof Wave Winch follows the recent findings of the project “SafeTug” of MARIN, the Dutch Maritime Research Institute, which looks at safer ship handling. The circle of participants in the project includes a number of propulsion system manufacturers such as Voith Turbo, tug operators and large oil companies. In future, standard concepts for various Voith Turbo VWT sizes will therefore include the Wave Winch as recommended and fully compliant equipment.
Apart from the electrical driven Wave Winch, Ridderinkhof developed a hydraulically driven version, which is still in test phase. “With the know-how of Ridderinkhof in winch concepts and the experience of Voith Turbo in the field of hydrodynamics, the operational version of this hydraulically driven winch will be improved even more”, states Klaas Zoet, Technical Director of Ridderinkhof, who envisages a number of interesting applications also in non LNG-related operations: “The Wave Winch is in fact a whole new standard”.
Source: https://www.hme.nl/english/News/Voith_Turbo_Marine_and_Ridderinkhof_Cooperate_in_Winch_Systems_Business/Default.aspx?rId=731[HME]
