When the directors of SMS Towage in the UK decided that the company needed to add another ASD to its fleet, it was an easy decision to go back to Sanmar Marine in Turkey who had built all the previous eight. Commented Paul Escreet, MD of SMS: “From the arrival of our first in 2011, we were impressed by the quality of the build and by the design of the product. Her performance and ease of handling was exceptional.”

The latest addition, named Pullman, is of a relatively new Robert Allan Ltd design commissioned exclusively by Sanmar. Commenting on the design parameters he had set, Ali Gurun of Sanmar said: “The industry is under the challenge of ever tighter cost control and the only way to achieve this is to have more bollard pull in more compact hulls with low operational and maintenance costs. This new design, which is exclusive to us, combines all these attributes”.

Added Escreet, “The acquisition of our first of the Sanmar Sirapinar design is a further chapter in the SMS Towage development. We look forward to her safe arrival in the knowledge that we will have at our disposal the most advanced design of ship handling tugs in the UK.

Pullman measures 22.40m x 10.85m and has an extreme draft of 4.5m. Power is supplied by a pair of Caterpillar 3512C main engines to Schottel SRP 1012 azimuthing Rudderpropellers to give 45 tonnes bollard pull. Other propulsion systems can give the model up to 50 tonnes BP.

As standard the Sirapinar Series is fitted with a DMT forward winch, an aft capstan and a tow hook. The accommodation includes two single en suite cabins and two twin berth cabins.

The largest independent towage operators in the UK, SMS Towage is a leader in the industry and therefore seeks to provide the very latest designs to support the increasing demands of discerning ship owners and their clientele. As the company expanded, its main focus was to replicate this experience and so began a slow but meaningful process of accumulating additional Sanmar vessels into its fleet.

Sanmar is the world’s leading builder of Robert Allan Ltd designs with figures fast approaching 200, many of which, like the Sirapinar Series, are exclusive to the Turkey-based builder which has two modern custom designed shipyards dedicated to tug construction.