Relume expands Arabian Gulf services

In July this year when MENAS showed off its new multipurpose light tender vessel Relume in a naming ceremony at Damen Shipyards? Scheldepoort facility in Vlissingen, The Netherlands, it was apparent that this was no ordinary vessel.

“The new Relume marks a major transformation in the character of our organisation,” stated John Gyles, chairman of MENAS. “The progressive modernisation of our aids to navigation equipment and subsequent rationalisation of our maintenance practices mean that MENAS can carry out its core activities using less ship?s time than in the past.” Gyles told The Motor Ship that to check, maintain, refurbish and replace some of the hundreds of navigation aids maintained by MENAS will occupy the new vessel for about 40% of its time. The rest of the time will be devoted to undertaking the many other tasks for which it has the facilities and equipment. In particular, MENAS believes that it has a duty to both shipowners and littoral states to promote maritime safety and environmental protection in ways that extend beyond the organisation?s traditional role of maintaining aids to navigation. Gyles claims that the new ship, with its wide range of enhanced capabilities, will allow MENAS to achieve this goal.

All steelwork and hull assembly was carried out at Damen Shipyards Galatz, Romania, and the completed hull was towed to Holland where it arrived in February for final outfitting at the former Royal Schelde shipyard in Vlissingen. Much of the heavy machinery and electrical components had been fitted on board in Romania, to avoid steel cutting and re-working at the yard in Vlissingen. Following her arrival, teams of specialists were deployed on board for electrical, mechanical and electronic engineering, as well as ventilation, painting and joinery work. At the time of writing, the ship was undergoing the final stages of sea trials and handover was planned for mid September with the delivery voyage to Bahrain commencing a couple of days later with an estimated time of arrival of 12 October.

The vessel is the third MENAS ship to bear the name Relume and replaces the 1,727gt 76 metre long light tender completed in 1979 by Ailsa Shipbuilding in Scotland. Although the paramount responsibility of the new Relume will be, like that of its predecessors, the provision and maintenance of aids to navigation in the international waters of the Arabian Gulf, the new 82.60 metre long double-hulled vessel will offer a wide range of related services that neither of the two earlier vessels could perform.

MENAS? new ship is capable of performing a wide variety of operations, bringing a new level of sophistication to these types of operation in the Arabian Gulf including oil spill response with dispersant, clean up and recovery facilities. This is backed by accommodation and other onboard arrangements for training personnel from the Gulf region. There are also two 89 m3 capacity oil recovery tanks to store oil spillages.

“Relume?s oil spill response capabilities have the potential to make a valuable contribution to the protection of the Gulf?s marine environment. The Gulf is an important natural resource and its condition is under increasing scrutiny from both national governments and international agencies,” explained Stephen Cribb, General Manager, MENAS Bahrain. “With the introduction of the new ship and its expanded facilities, MENAS will be re-positioned as a broad-based service to the maritime community, capable of further protecting the marine ecosystem of the Gulf,” he added.

The ship will also have a high-resolution search sonar by Furono for hydrographic survey and sea bottom investigation missions which will complement the Kongsberg Simrad installation consisting of the EA 400 Single Beam with EM 3000 multi-beam units with ship motion and sea condition sensors plus Kongsberg Neptune, C-floor, Triton and Poseidon software.

Kongsberg Simrad also supplied the IMO Class 2 dynamic positioning system to facilitate functions such as remote-operated vehicle (ROV) operations and geophysical surveys. The integrated bridge system is supplied by Litton Sperry. For salvage and towing duties, the ship is fitted with a 40-tonne towing winch.

In addition, the Relume is equipped with as an oil spill response training resource for ?hands on? exercises, thereby injecting realism and promoting a better understanding in the management of a spill. By training and preparing key personnel involved in oil spill response, MENAS will help the region to maintain its capability for minimising economic and environmental damage.

Among the impressive array of equipment onboard is a sophisticated buoy-handling crane designed and manufactured by Norway?s TTS Marine. This crane, type GPCO 1250-2520, is located on the starboard side of the aft working deck and is of the electro-hydraulic type, with an SWL of 25 tonnes at 20m. Specifically designed to handle a wide variety of navigation buoys, it features a two hook/winch operation and each can be operated independently or synchronised in buoy-handling operations, and a constant tensioning system is installed to ease the hook-on operation.

The crane also features level-luffing, which will be invaluable for buoy positioning work on the aft deck of the vessel, and is dimensioned to handle a wide variety of buoy sizes. The crane also enhances the ship?s role as a multipurpose field support vessel and can be fitted with a 20ft container spreader since there is enough deck space for the carriage of up to twelve TEU boxes, 10 of which may be refrigerated. There is also a smaller general purpose crane mounted on the port side with an SWL of 13 tonnes.

The new vessel is well equipped to repair and reposition navigation aids and to search for, locate and mark marine hazards. To provide coverage of all Gulf waters, the vessel is complemented by workboats specializing in the servicing of shallow water aids to navigation.

Power plant

Powered by a Wartsila diesel electric plant comprising of two 1,317kW 8L20?s and two 988kW 6L20?s diesel gensets, these drive two Rolls-Royce Aquamaster azimuth units of 1,500 kW each. Additional manoeuvring capability is provided by two Rolls-Royce Kamewa bow thruster units of 515 kW each. The Bahamas-flag vessel has a service speed of 13 knots and is classed with Lloyd?s Register of Shipping as +100A1, UMS, DP(AA), NAV-IBS, Light Tender Occasional Oil Recovery Duties. Once on station in the Arabian Gulf, the Relume will operate from Kuwait, in the north, all the way down to Oman. n