Damen ATD Tug 2412 Twin Fin Concept

Since 1927, Damen has had a reputation for building compact tugs and workboats. As technology hasdeveloped and the size and scale of towage operations have increased, customer requirements havealso changed. This has resulted in demands for greater power and even more compact vessels to attendships manoeuvring in and out of port. At the same time, the towage industry is being forced to reducecapital expenditure and tower operational costs in order to remain competitive. The demands for higherpower within a small vessel, along with lower initial and operational costs, al! contribute to an on-goingsearch for more efficient use of power within confined physical boundaries.

With the development of the ASD 2411 (presented at ITS 2002) the design for the first compact buthigh-powered harbour tug was presented. Now, eight years later, more than 50 have been deliveredworldwide: evidence of serious market interest in the compact tug concept. However, with a minimallength over beam ratio, directional stability becomes a challenge, especially in the case of a compacttractor drive tug.

This paper describes the development of the new Twin Fin tractor tug design, and the results of themodel test programme. The objective was to achieve perfect manoeuvring performance and at the samet