It has been another busy summer and autumn at Macduff Ship design with the delivery of a number of new vessels, work continuing on existing contracts and several new design contracts won.

Alongside this has seen the continuation of the companies bureau work in naval architectural consultancy and the steady expansion of Macduff Marine Surveyors.

A 25.5m aquaculture support vessel for Inverlussa Marine Services

A new 25.5m Aquaculture Support Vessel has entered service on the West Coast of Scotland having been delivered in September 2017 to owners Inverlussa Marine Services.

Built by Havyard Shipyard in Norway to plans by Macduff Ship Design, the vessel is designed to support the fish farm sector and can also perform multi-role tasks such as mooring work and towing.

The ‘Kiera Fiona’, as she is named, boasts two cranes of 48t/m at 18.5m outreach and 100t/m at 22m outreach respectively.  With a beam of 9.70m and depth of 3.50m, the vessel is capable of carrying four 20ft containers on deck or a total of 163t of deck cargo.

The ‘Kiera Fiona’ is the fourth vessel that Macduff have designed for Inverlussa.  She is a modified version of the ‘Gina Mary’ completed earlier this year, and boasts a lifted wheelhouse to gain a skippers cabin in a full tween deck between focsle and wheelhouse, along with an extra 500mm lengthened section amidships to gain an increase in main deck area.

The engine room is fitted with twin 600hp at 1,800rpm Caterpillar C18 main engines are installed, driving fixed pitch propellers in nozzles through ZF W650 gearboxes.  Auxilliary power is provided a Caterpillar C12 engine a Volvo D7 genset and Cat C4.4 genset.

Macduff Ship Design is delighted to have been able to work with both Inverlussa Marine Services and Havyard Ship Technology on these projects.

A 12.75m pilot vessel for ABP port of Ayr

We are pleased to announce the successful trials and delivery of a 12.75m Pilot Vessel to owner Associated British Ports Ltd, Ayr. The vessel was ordered as a design-build contract with Macduff Shipyards winning the competitive tender. They contracted Macduff Ship Design to produce the vessel design and steel kit to the owner’s strict requirements.

Stuart Cresswell, ABP Ayr and Troon Port manager, said: “We are pleased to take delivery of this brand new vessel, which has been specifically designed to undertake a dual purpose role of delivering pilotage services and assisting the berthing of larger vessels in poor weather conditions.

“With the trend towards ever bigger ships, its arrival will help cement both Ayr and Troon’s status as primary hubs for trade in the West of Scotland and Troon’s long-standing reputation as a Port of refuge for all shipping during bad weather.”

The vessel is designed as the primary vessel for the Port of Ayr and as such, it was important that the vessel not only performed full pilot duties but also had the capability to assist vessel when entering the port. With these varying requirements, the vessel needed to be suitably robust for general harbour duties whilst maintaining strict weight management.

At 12.75m length and an overall 4.5m beam and design draught of 1.2m, the vessel is designed to carry two crew and two pilots and operate between the ports of Ayr and Troon and the Scottish West Coast. The vessel is classed to MCA workboat code regulations and surveyed by SCMS. The propulsion machinery includes two John Deere 6068SFM85 engines rated 321hp at 2,600pm coupled to a ZF 305-3A gearbox with 2.423:1 ratio all supplied by E.P.Barrus.  The vessel carries 4,000l of oil fuel and 210l of freshwater.

The hull form was based on a previous successful semi-displacement hull form developed by Macduff Ship Design for use in similar operations.  This was tailored in the final design stages and to optimise performance and seakeeping whilst maintaining its workboat capabilities. Macduff Ship Design provided full construction and outfitting drawings to Macduff Shipyards, who completed the vessel on schedule with delivery to the port of Ayr slightly ahead of contract.

During sea trials, the vessels performed admirably, exceeding all expectations.  The trials gave an improvement on both the predicted speed, reaching 12.2k at 100% MCR, and bollard pull, achieving 5.2t.

Fishing vessel deliveries

Along with these vessels, we have also seen the delivery of four new fishing vessels all built by Macduff Shipyards with designs being developed in cooperation between Macduff Ship design and shipyard. The vessels ranging in size from 19m to 29m have all proven to be excellent vessels with new developments in sea keeping and propulsive efficiency proving their worth.

New designs and new customers

Macduff Ship Design is also pleased to announce two new contracts for new design vessels recently signed.

We have recently signed a contract to develop a new design 14m workboat with Cheoy Lee Shipyard. The contract covers a multipurpose vessel with capability for line handling and harbour tug duties. The design is targeted at multi-disciplines within the same design envelope to allow variation in production to suit owner specification.

We are delighted to be able to work with such a renowned shipbuilder with this innovative concept.

The second contract is with MMS Ship Repair & Dry Dock to design a 55ft Trawler Yacht. The design is being developed in cooperation between the two companies with the production of the first vessel scheduled to start early 2017. The design is to be certified under the recreational craft directive, a first for Macduff Ship Design. We are currently in the process of finalising initial design details prior to the development of steel cutting data for the whole vessel.

Macduff Ship Design was also delighted to attend INMEX India in October with our partners in India Parikh Power. The three-day exhibition proved very productive with an opportunity to meet potential future partners and clients within the Indian shipbuilding market.