Our new tug ‘DMS Condor’ has commenced a 9 month charter this month in the beautiful Isle of Skye, off the West coast of Scotland. As part of this project she has double towed two of our spud legged deck pontoons: JML 50 (50m x 14m x 3m) and JML 30 (30m x 11m x 2.5m) to Uig for Skye’s Uig harbour redevelopment.
DMS Condor and her convoy stopped along the way at Cardiff to load up the deck pontoon barge JML 50 with over 700t of 24m long, 1.2m diameter tubular piles needed for the works in Skye. Marine civil engineering and specialist piling contractor, SPI Piling, will be using these on site for the Uig Harbour redevelopment works.
Uig is situated on Skye’s North Coast on the shores of Loch Snizort and is the main ferry terminal for the Uists and Harris islands. Caledonian Maritime Assets Limited (CMAL) are constructing a new 102 metre dual fuel vessel to serve the Skye Triangle route. As a result, infrastructure improvements are needed at the 3 ports including Uig which serve the Skye Triangle route to accommodate the upgraded vessel.
DMS Condor, is a twin-screw tugboat, MCA CAT1 certified with dual fixed pitch propellers supported by her 1947 horse power Caterpillar engines providing up to 24 tonnes bollard pull and a free running speed up to 11 knots. Two 40 tonne deck towing winches along with a 25 tonne Mampaey quick release towing hook on deck means she is able to offer a double tow solution to allow for significant cost savings in fuel and efficiency. She will remain on site at Uig to reposition the marine construction vessels, including JML30 & JML50 (which would be used for material storage and transportation on the JML 50 and a storage platform for the project piling equipment on the JML 30) including two jackup barges from Red 7.
Deck cargo barges JML30 and JML50 have both recently been dry docked with new paintwork and 5 year Bureau Vertias certification, ready to go to work!
You can read more about the Uig upgrade works on the official Highland Council web site.
If you have a requirement for marine operations in shallow or near shore projects, please feel free to get in touch to see where we can help.