New Russian Arctic rescue tugs inaugurated into service

The Russian Marine Rescue Service inaugurated two new emergency response tugs in a ceremony at the Port of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky on Wednesday, May 14.

Pechak and Uzon belong to the Project NE025 series of tugs built by Okskaya Shipyard for the marine rescue service.

Designed by local naval architecture firm Nordic Engineering, the Project NE025 tugs 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 tugs will be able to independently navigate through thin first-year Arctic ice up to 80 cm thick, In the winter-spring period, the vessels can navigate through ice up to 60 cm thick. In finer ice conditions of freezing non-Arctic seas, the vessels can be operated year-round.

The 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.

Sister tugs Timan and Tepsey are being operated out of the Port of Murmansk while Tabor will be deployed at the Port of Arkhangelsk.