PACIFIC TOWING has expanded its fleet with the purchase of a dedicated harbour tug Koranga from Singapore. Koranga is scheduled to arrive in Lae in March where she will be permanently stationed to better serve the increasing number of large vessels that berth in Papua New Guinea’s main port.
The new tug is one of several being purchased as part of PacTow’s re-fleeting program, which will boast a total of 11 Azimuth Stern Drive (ASD) tugs once completed.
Although PacTow is increasingly servicing PNG’s oil and gas sector, harbour towage remains PacTow’s core business.
The company’s general manager Neil Papenfus reports that PacTow vessels were involved in excess of 3000 harbour assists in 2021.
“Koranga will further increase the company’s harbour towage capacity and thus benefit PNG’s broader transport and logistics sector, the efficiency and effectiveness of which is in part reliant on the quick and safe berthing of vessels,” he said.
Originally named Neon, the new tug has been christened Koranga after a Morobe volcano. Koranga is one of the largest of PacTow’s tugs – at nearly 30 metres long, it has a bollard pull of 60 tonnes and braking horsepower of 4436, enabling it to singlehandedly assist almost any vessel requiring harbour towage in PNG.
“We have already purchased other tugs under our re-fleeting program for the purpose of increasing our oil and gas, salvage and open ocean towage capacity, but Koranga will be used solely for harbour towage” Mr Papenfus said.
“Like our other tugs, she will be captained by one of our very experienced PNG Masters and have an expert PNG crew.”
Koranga will travel to PNG from Singapore under the stewardship of a PacTow captain together with a seven-person PNG crew. The voyage is anticipated to take 14 days and will cover approximately 1800 nautical miles.
Koranga will travel through the Java and Flores seas, and then through the Torres Strait to Port Moresby where PacTow is headquartered at its dedicated tug base and camp. The new tug will be re-flagged in Port Moresby prior to being despatched to Lae.
Koranga will also provide important training opportunities to some of PacTow’s youngest seafarers. Male and female deck and engine cadets from the company’s two cadetship programs (one in partnership with the Australian Government, Swire Shipping and Consort Express Lines) will undertake sea time on the vessel.
