Great Lakes Shipyard, USA, will build two Stan Tugs 1907 ICE at its facility in Cleveland, Ohio, under a license agreement with Damen Shipyards Group.
The vessels will be Ice Class and operated by the yard’s affiliate company, The Great Lakes Towing Company. The tugs will replace existing tonnage. It is the first time that Damen tugs will be built under licence in the USA. Under the licence, Great Lakes Shipyard will receive full construction, design and engineering support from Damen.
Ice Class and Special Paint
In addition to the Ice Class specification, the tugs will be treated with special, high endurance paint capable of withstanding the abrasion that comes with moving through ice. Stan Tugs 1907 can be found operating in locations around the world including Russia, Qatar and the Netherlands.
The partnership with Damen has provided Great Lakes Shipyard with a portfolio of proven vessel designs for customers in the United States.
Damen Vessels Built under Licence
While these are the first tugs to be built in the USA under Damen’s Technical Cooperation programme, over 200 Damen vessels have been built under licence in the USA since the mid-1990s. These include eighty 26-metre patrol boats for the US Coast Guard, built by Bollinger Shipyards; 55 Fast Crew Supplier 1204 class, built at Horizon Boat Builders and Trinity Shipyard; and 25 Fast Crew Supplier 1605 class vessels built by Blount Boats. Licences for 58 Sentinel-class Fast Response Cutters based on Damen’s 47m Stan Patrol 4708 have also been sold.
