AWARDS 2024 | Best Small Harbour Tug – Solidor – Piriou
Concarneau-based Piriou is one of the most versatile, innovative and enterprising of European shipyards. Its range of ship completions is staggering, anything from superseiners to yachts, tugs to trawlers and patrol to crew/supply boats.
These very impressive multi-role tugs are for the sometimes difficult port of Saint Malo on the exposed southern coast of the English Channel. There they will be worked hard and will require every bit of their power, versatility and manoeuvrability.
"Solidor and Cité d’Aleth are special because they are the results of a specific client’s need," Romain Hamoui, Tug, Harbour and Workboat Product Manager at Piriou, told Baird Maritime.
Hamoui said the tugs are well-equipped with fore and aft winches despite the limited dimensions, which would enable the vessels to pass through Saint-Malo's harbour locks.
"They can perform harbour operations such as towing but also coastal assistance and fire response and can even provide harbour services such as dredging thanks to a levelling bar."
Hamoui said it was a challenging project, as all client requests needed to be addressed, "without moving away from regulations [or] neglecting performance."
"As for any project requiring a 'made-to-measure' solution, it’s a new challenge for Piriou engineers," said Hamoui.
The company needed to determine how to fit all client requirements within a limited space while complying with existing tug regulations, but Hamoui said this target was achieved.
Hamoui explained that Piriou’s order book remains high at €1.3 billion (US$1.5 billion) with some deliveries scheduled through to 2030.
In his view, the company benefits from factors such as high demand for naval vessels, beginning of fleet renewal programs to replace vessels built during "the last newbuild peak" between 2009 and 2011, and new demand in line with the IMO's greenhouse gas emissions strategy for 2050.
"Compared to the past few years, all Piriou Group shipyards [in 2024] were working at their maximum," Hamoui told Baird Maritime. "However, if this trend is favourable for shipyards, shipowners are more careful in their approach."
Hamoui explained it is difficult for some owners to maintain positive profit levels when investment and operating costs are increasing.
"The necessity to go 'greener' has a direct cost today, and potential future savings remain unknown."
Hamoui said the tug industry is at a crossroads, with environmental regulations becoming increasingly restrictive.
"A wide range of technologies is available (i.e., fully electric, hybrid electric, fuel cell, methanol), but these technologies have a significant extra cost and at the same time, instability is higher due to uncertainty on tax policies.
Hamoui believes that in some ways, it creates opportunities, though it also leads to other opportunities no longer becoming available.
"Facing all this uncertainty, tug owners ask themselves, 'I need to change my tug, but where do I go? Which technology should I buy?'. As a yard, we need to help them make the right choice according to their way of operating tugs."
Hamoui expects tugs' bollard pulls would also increase along with vessels' sizes.
"On larger tugs, methanol or HVO tends to be a good solution (combined with a hybrid system), provided that methanol sources are sufficient to meet tug fleets' needs," he told Baird Maritime. "On smaller units dedicated to ports, a fully electric propulsion system could apply when and where shore connections are available."
For a list of the 2024 "Best Of" award winners, please click here.
