Sanmar Denizcilik held an event on 7 March 2023 Tuesday in Sanmar Altınova Shipyard for giving a name to the two eco-friendly Dual Fuel LNG Escort tugboats it has built for the Canadian HaiSea Marine. Attended by a large number of people, the event continued on Wednesday, March 8 with the 3 ‘’Full Electrical Tugboats” in Sanmar’s shipyard in Tuzla.
The ceremony in Altınova Shipyard was attended by a Canadian committee of 40 people, Chairman of the Board of İMEAK Chamber of Shipping and TOBB Vice President Tamer Kıran, Hat-San Chairman of the Board Mustafa Pepe, a large number of people from the industry and the press. The ceremony started with a moment of silence in memory of the citizens who lost their lives in the earthquakes. Presented by the speaker Başak Şengül, who is well-known by the industry, the program after singing the national anthems of Türkiye and Canada. The keynote address was delivered by Sanmar Denizcilik Chairman of the Board Ali Gürün. In his speech, Gürün said
“I would like to start my words by wishing God’s blessings for those who have lost their lives in the huge earthquake disaster and a quick recovery for the wounded and I hope the whole nation gets well soon”.
Sanmar Chairman of the Board Ali Gürün
This contract that we had won in 2019 as a result of a tender for 18 months is actually the first group of the two sets of tugboats which will be giving services at the terminal from where LNG Canada, the state-owned LNG export company of Canada (that is, Botaş of Canada), will be exporting LNG to the world through its Kitimat facilities.
Today we will be giving names to the two escort tugboats with a length of 40 meters, a bollard pull of 100 tons and, more importantly, an escort bollard pull of 200 tons, powered by LNG dual fuel which means “both LNG and diesel fuel”.
And tomorrow, we will be naming 3 fully electrical tugboats with a length of 28 meters and a bollard pull of 70 tons in our shipyard in Tuzla in the presence of our guests from Canada.
While the electrical tugboats will be giving vessel berthing and lifting services, those powered by LNG will be using for active escort services given to giant tankers that carry LNG. The Haisea nation is the local people in the region where LNG is obtained, and Haisla management has established a joint venture with the Seaspan company, called Haisea Marine, through which they have won a contract for giving these services in the terminal of LNG Canada.
As some of you may remember, Seaspan is the tugboat operator at Vancouver Port, is a customer of Sanmar for 15 years and holds 6 pieces of Turkish made tugboats – by Sanmar – in its fleet. The relation between Sanmar and Seaspan dates back to about 30 years ago. It has been almost 30 years since our Canadian designer contacted Seaspan, one of the companies that have used the first tugboat designs, about the compact and powerful tugboats and designs.
The world’s first LNG-powered tugboats were built by Sanmar about 10 years ago. The number of LNG-powered tugboats built ever since across the world is no more than the number of our fingers. And years later, it is again us who had the chance to build LNG-powered tugboats with much more advanced technology.”
Following the protocol speeches, the Dual Fuel LNG Escort tugboats were given their names during a ribbon-cutting ceremony. Plaquets and souvenirs were presented after which the guests proceeded with the cocktail.
Sanmar management, Sanmar employees and Haisea Marine committee gathered for the gala dinner in the evening.
The day after the ceremony in Altınova, another naming event was held for the three fully electrical tugboats whose building is in progress in the shipyard in Tuzla. At the end of the event, the Canadian committee thanked Sanmar to express their satisfaction with the hospitality and presented their gifts to Sanmar representatives in memory of the day. The program continued with a cocktail and a tour around İstanbul.
