ST Engineering Halter Marine and Offshore, a company of ST Engineering North America, was awarded a contract to retrofit new propulsion and maneuvering systems on an ocean towing tug, SIGNET WARHORSE II, for Signet Maritime Corporation, a global marine transportation and logistics services company.
The scope of work included removing existing shafts and fixed-pitched propellers to be replaced with state-of-art Controllable Pitch Propellers consisting of shaft bearings and shafts. Auxiliary components including the oil distribution box and feedback unit were integrated into the machinery space.
The existing bow tunnel thruster was replaced with a retractable azimuth thruster. ST Engineering laser scanned the bow hull to create a 3D model so that the hull fairing plates could be developed and installed in way of the new drop down azimuthing thruster. The installation of the new thruster casing, including the fairing plate and thruster alignment, were executed perfectly on a 24-hour shift.
Prior to departure, the vessel was treated to a thorough blast and paint job of underwater/freeboard areas. A complete ABS survey of the hull was conducted upon completion.
“With our strong track record, coupled with deep engineering expertise and know-how, we endeavor to deliver vessels to our customers safely and on time. We continue to work to strengthen the capability of our Pascagoula facilities to support and add value to our customers like Signet,” said Jeffrey Gehrmann, Senior Vice President, Operations of ST Engineering Halter Marine and Offshore.
“For over 30-years, Signet and ST Engineering Halter Marine and Offshore have enjoyed a multi-reciprocal shipyard and tug transport relationship. This highly technical conversion for Signet’s 10,000 horsepower assets into vastly improved, manoeuvrable, stronger 151 Metric Tonne Bollard Pull ocean towing and station-keeping machines was done on time and on budget by our good friends at ST Engineering,” said Hans Schmidt, President & General Manager of Signet Maritime.
With these new improvements, the Signet Warhorse II certainly lives up to her strong and powerful name.
