Russia's Okskaya Shipyard has begun conducting sea trials of a new multi-purpose tug slated for the Russian Marine Rescue Service.
Tabor belongs to the Project NE025 series of tugs built by Okskaya Shipyard for the marine rescue service. She will be handed over to the customer following completion of the trials.
Designed by local naval architecture firm Nordic Engineering, the tug will perform duties including towing of non-self-propelled pontoons, salvage, installation and maintenance of buoys, anchor handling, maritime safety patrols, cargo transport, dredging support, oil spill response, and firefighting.
In the summer and autumn months, the tug will be able to independently navigate through thin first-year Arctic ice up to 80 cm thick. In the winter-spring period, the vessel can navigate through ice up to 60 cm thick. In finer ice conditions of freezing non-Arctic seas, the vessel can be operated year-round.
The Project NE025 tugs are also capable of deploying oil spill response equipment even without their hulls coming into contact with spilled oil on the surface of the water, thus ensuring greater safety for their crews. For firefighting, each tug relies on a main engine-driven pump and two foam/water monitors that can be controlled remotely from the wheelhouse.
The five Project NE025 tugs will be deployed at ports that lie along the Northern Sea Route, providing assistance to commercial vessels that sail through the vital route. Tabor will be assigned to the Port of Arkhangelsk following her delivery.