THE LATEST emergency towing vessel assigned to the Great Barrier Reef and Torres Strait is now on station off Yorkey’s Knob outside Cairns.
Smit Lamnalco’s Reef Keeper arrived from refit in Singapore at Townsville in mid-June, before moving to Cairns (where it is now registered) 27 June ahead of taking up its new ETV contract with AMSA at the beginning of the new financial year. Reef Keeper, a 1290 GT AHTS (anchor-handling tug/supply ship) built by the ABG Shipyard in Mumbai in 2010 as Lamnalco Manakin and renamed SL Manakin in 2015, will fulfil the role ahead of the delivery of a newbuilding in mid-2026.
In a social media post AMSA offered a ‘thank you’ to the crew of the vessel Reef Keeper replaces, Coral Knight, “operated by Teekay Corporation, for all you have done to safeguard the waters of the Torres Strait and Great Barrier Reef throughout the past 10 years.
“Since 2014, Coral Knight has provided emergency towage, marine pollution response, search and rescue, and salvage assistance in these particularly sensitive sea areas. The vessel has also served as a platform for important aids to navigation maintenance services,” AMSA said.
“For the next two years, Reef Keeper, operated by Smit Lamnalco Towage Australia P/L, will serve as a replacement while a bigger, more powerful, faster, and more fuel-efficient vessel is built.
“We look forward to this new era of emergency response and towage capability.”
While Coral Knight was crewed by Teekay the vessel was chartered to the previous ETV contract holder, AMS Group, by head-owner by Kooren [KOTUG] of The Netherlands. It was offered for sale ahead of the contract changeover and has recently relocated from Cairns to Darwin and thence Fremantle, where it is due this week.
SL’s new ETV, a Robert Allan-designed RAsalvor 6500, will have a 46% increase in bollard pull power (120 tonnes versus 100 tonnes for Reef Keeper and 82 tonnes for Coral Knight) greater top speed and larger crew capacity.
AMSA said the new vessel will have a hybrid propulsion system that allows the power generation system to be optimised for the desired operational profile and speed. Consideration has also been given in the design stage for the use of methanol as an alternative future fuel source which aligns with the global push to reduce emissions and decarbonise shipping.
