Early in 2012, Cheoy Lee Shipyards (Hong Kong) was awarded a contract from a South American client for three new RAmparts 3200CL class tugs. This marks a significant milestone for the popular RAmparts 3200 series, as the order includes the 100th tug to be delivered to this design.

There are few designs in the world workboat market to achieve this milestone in such a short time.

The RAmparts 3200 design originated from a Robert Allan Ltd. internal R&D program back in the early 2000s. The concept behind the RAmparts series of designs was to provide both owners and smaller shipyards alike with a series of high-performance, well-proven ship-handling tug designs which could be built competitively in the worldwide tugboat market. Incorporated into these designs are all the features that have distinguished other advanced tugs from Robert Allan Ltd., including high speed, excellent stability, sea-keeping, enhanced astern performance and maneuverability. The RAmparts 3200 design, together with other RAmparts family members, has proven that this idea has been successful and has benefited the workboat industry.

 

Sanmar of Turkey has the distinction of building the first RAmparts 3200 tug 'Achille Onorato' to Rimorchiatori Sardi, Italy in 2004.  The most recent deliveries, from ASL Singapore, were the 'RiverWijs Emma' and 'RiverWijs Rowan' to RiverWijs, Australia.  In between, more than a dozen shipyards in Turkey, China, South-East Asia, the United States, Europe, the Middle East, New Zealand and South America have been involved in the construction of tugs to variations of this design. 

RAmparts 3200: Vessels by year of construction

Year    No.
2003    1
2004    2
2005    1
2006    4
2007    10
2008    15
2009    23
2010    13
2011    12
2012, under construction/ on order    19
Total:  100

RAmparts 3200 Tugs: Area of Operation
The construction history of the RAmparts 3200 highlights the crests and troughs of the marine industry in the last few years: from a couple of RAmparts 3200 tugs in 2004 to the peak of 23 units in 2009 and then back to a stable rate of about a dozen boats annually since 2010. There will be about 15 more tugs built to this design to be delivered in 2012 - hopefully a harbinger of better times in the future.