Finnpusku
Encyclopedia
| Classification: | DNV Det Norske Veritas Stiftelsen Det Norske Veritas is a classification society organized as a foundation, with the objective of "Safeguarding life, property, and the environment". The organization's history goes back to 1864, when the foundation was established in Norway to inspect and evaluate the technical condition... 1A1, Pusher/Barge Unit, Ice IA+ |
| Main engines: | 2 × Wärtsilä Wärtsilä Wärtsilä is a Finnish corporation which manufactures and services power sources and other equipment in the marine and energy markets. The core products of Wärtsilä include large combustion engines... -Sulzer Sulzer (manufacturer) Sulzer Ltd. is a Swiss industrial engineering and manufacturing firm, founded by Salomon Sulzer-Bernet in 1775 and established as Sulzer Brothers Ltd. in 1834 in Winterthur, Switzerland. Today it is a publicly owned company with international subsidiaries... 6ZAL40 (2 × 3,840 kW) |
| Auxiliary generators: | 2 × Wärtsilä-Vasa 4R22HF (2 × 590 kW/710 kVA) Strömberg Stromberg -People:*Lyndon Stromberg, American sculptor and designer*Karl Stromberg, the villain in the James Bond film The Spy Who Loved Me*Joseph R. Stromberg, historian with the Ludwig von Mises Institute*Glenn Strömberg, Swedish soccer player... shaft generator (900 kVA) |
Finnpusku is an integrated tug and barge system owned and operated by ESL Shipping, a Finnish
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...
shipping company that specializes in bulk cargo
Bulk cargo
Bulk cargo is commodity cargo that is transported unpackaged in large quantities. This cargo is usually dropped or poured, with a spout or shovel bucket, as a liquid or as a mass of relatively small solids , into a bulk carrier ship's hold, railroad car, or tanker truck/trailer/semi-trailer body...
transports in the Baltic Sea
Baltic Sea
The Baltic Sea is a brackish mediterranean sea located in Northern Europe, from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from 20°E to 26°E longitude. It is bounded by the Scandinavian Peninsula, the mainland of Europe, and the Danish islands. It drains into the Kattegat by way of the Øresund, the Great Belt and...
. The system was developed in the 1980s by Finnlines
Finnlines
Finnlines Plc is a Finnish shipping company that operates freight throughout Northern Europe as well as passenger services in the Baltic Sea. In the past, Finnlines has operated ships under the brands Finncarriers, Finnflow Systems, Finnjet Lines, and FG Shipping Oy Ab...
, another Finnish shipping company that also managed the vessels until 2003, in co-operation with Rautaruukki
Rautaruukki
Rautaruukki Corporation is a Finnish company, headquartered in Helsinki, which manufactures and supplies metal-based components and systems to the construction and engineering industries....
to transport raw materials to the Raahe
Raahe
Raahe is a town and municipality of Finland. Founded by Swedish statesman and Governor General of Finland Count Per Brahe the younger in 1649, it is one of 10 historic wooden towns remaining in Finland. Examples of other Finnish historic wooden towns are Kaskinen , Old Rauma, Porvoo , Jakobstad ,...
Steel Works. Two pushers
Towboat
Not to be confused with the historic boat type with the same name, also called horse-drawn boat.A towboat is a boat designed for pushing barges or car floats. Towboats are characterized by a square bow with steel knees for pushing and powerful engines...
and five barge
Barge
A barge is a flat-bottomed boat, built mainly for river and canal transport of heavy goods. Some barges are not self-propelled and need to be towed by tugboats or pushed by towboats...
s, four of which remain in service, were delivered by Hollming in 1986–1987.
the Finnpusku system consists of pushers Rautaruukki
Rautaruukki (pusher)
Rautaruukki is a Finnish pusher vessel owned and operated by ESL Shipping. It is part of the Finnpusku integrated tug and barge system developed in the 1980s by Finnlines, a Finnish shipping company that also managed the vessel until 2003, in co-operation with Rautaruukki for the transportation...
and Steel
Steel (pusher)
Steel is a Finnish pusher vessel owned and operated by ESL Shipping. It is part of the Finnpusku integrated tug and barge system developed in the 1980s by Finnlines, a Finnish shipping company that also managed the vessel until 2003, in co-operation with Rautaruukki for the transportation needs of...
, and barges Board, Botnia, Kalla and Tasku.
Concept
Separating the expensive machinery section from the cargo space offers several advantages in comparison to conventional vessels, one of the most important being the ability to operate on the "drop and swap" principle which minimizes the turnaround time in port for the pusher and its crew. When a pusher-barge combination arrives at a port, the fully laden barge is left for unloading while the pusher picks up an empty one and leaves again. In theory the system works on optimum efficiency when there are as many barges as there are pushers and ports of call — the barges are always either being loaded or unloaded, or underway with a pusher. In addition to reducing unprofitable waiting time such operation principle allows more time for the unloading of the barge, removing the need for expensive cargo handling equipment in the unloading port.One of the major arguments in favor of integrated tug barge systems is the small number of crew required to operate such vessel — whereas a conventional vessel with capacity in par with the Finnpusku pusher-barge combination would require a crew of 16–17, the integrated tug-barge unit can be operated by a crew of only 9. In some cases an integrated system is adopted only for this reason and the pusher is rarely, if ever, decoupled from the barge.
An integrated system has several technical advantages in comparison to towed barges. Traditionally tugs, being short in length, have to operate at relatively high Froude number
Froude number
The Froude number is a dimensionless number defined as the ratio of a characteristic velocity to a gravitational wave velocity. It may equivalently be defined as the ratio of a body's inertia to gravitational forces. In fluid mechanics, the Froude number is used to determine the resistance of an...
s resulting in high wave making resistance
Wave making resistance
Wave making resistance is a form of drag that affects surface watercraft, such as boats and ships, and reflects the energy required to push the water out of the way of the hull. This energy goes into creating the wake.-Physics:...
and the barges, being towed in the tugs' wake
Wake
A wake is the region of recirculating flow immediately behind a moving or stationary solid body, caused by the flow of surrounding fluid around the body.-Fluid dynamics:...
, have skegs that improve directional stability but increase drag. Positioning the tug behind behind the barge in a stern notch improves the hydrodynamic efficiency of the combination, resulting in significant reductions in the total resistance. In addition the tug, operating in the wake of the barge, has better control over the combination and thus improves seaworthiness and maneuverability in comparison to the traditional towing arrangement.
Integrated tug barge systems are generally divided into three generations by the type of coupling. In the first generation systems the tug is connected to the barge by wires or chains. However, because the two vessels are subject to different motion responses due to their shape, displacement and position on a wave, such operation is only possible in calm sea conditions — in rough weather the tug has to disconnect from the barge and continue the journey by towing it in a traditional way. The second generation systems are designed with a deeper stern notch and improved coupling devices to allow operation in heavier seas while still permitting relative motion between the two vessels. The third generation systems such as the Finnpusku system, equipped with rigid or articulated mechanical coupling, allow operation in all sea states and even in ice conditions as the pusher-barge combination behaves hydrodynamically like a conventional ship. However, in some cases the specialized hull form of the pusher, designed to form a streamlined hull when coupled to the barge, might lead to problems with stability and seakeeping when the pusher is operated independently.
Development and construction
The history of the Finnpusku integrated tug barge system dates back to 1964 when Rautaruukkistarted steel production in the new steel mill
Steel mill
A steel mill or steelworks is an industrial plant for the manufacture of steel.Steel is an alloy of iron and carbon. It is produced in a two-stage process. First, iron ore is reduced or smelted with coke and limestone in a blast furnace, producing molten iron which is either cast into pig iron or...
in Raahe
Raahe
Raahe is a town and municipality of Finland. Founded by Swedish statesman and Governor General of Finland Count Per Brahe the younger in 1649, it is one of 10 historic wooden towns remaining in Finland. Examples of other Finnish historic wooden towns are Kaskinen , Old Rauma, Porvoo , Jakobstad ,...
, Finland, and began supplying the factory with ore concentrate
Ore concentrate
Ore concentrate, dressed ore or simply concentrate is the product generally produced by metal ore mines. The raw ore is usually ground finely in various comminution operations and gangue is removed, thus concentrating the metal component. The concentrate is then transported to smelters where it is...
, coal
Coal
Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock usually occurring in rock strata in layers or veins called coal beds or coal seams. The harder forms, such as anthracite coal, can be regarded as metamorphic rock because of later exposure to elevated temperature and pressure...
, coke
Coke (fuel)
Coke is the solid carbonaceous material derived from destructive distillation of low-ash, low-sulfur bituminous coal. Cokes from coal are grey, hard, and porous. While coke can be formed naturally, the commonly used form is man-made.- History :...
and other raw materials. Around the same time the Finnish shipping company Finnlines researched transporting cargo by barges and developed the first version of the Finnpusku system, but due to problems in funding and the devaluation
Devaluation
Devaluation is a reduction in the value of a currency with respect to those goods, services or other monetary units with which that currency can be exchanged....
of the Finnish markka in 1967 the idea was not pursued further. However, an upgraded concept was developed in the 1970s.
By the end of the 1970s it was realized that as the iron mines in Finland would soon be exhausted and there would not be enough suitable ice-strengthened tonnage to guarantee a continuous supply of raw materials for the expanding steel works. The draught of the bulk carriers available in the market exceeded the water depth of the port of Raahe and unloading the ships would have required a large number of cranes. While transporting the raw materials by barges proved to be feasible as they had low draught and could be unloaded with wheel loaders, towed barges could not be used during the winter and their poor maneuverability made them unsuitable for the confined waterways. For this reason it was decided to investigate if it would be possible to design a pusher-barge system that could also be operated in ice conditions.
When Rautaruukki consulted Finnlines that already operated the steel company's conventional bulk carrier Rautaruukki, the shipping company immediately presented the integrated tug barge system it had developed in the 1970s, the Finnpusku system. A development contract was signed and Finnlines performed several feasibility studies which showed that a pusher-barge system would be the most economical and efficient method of transporting bulk cargoes on the relatively short routes of the Baltic Sea.
The initial plan was to establish shipping companies for each vessel under the joint ownership of several large Finnish industrial and shipping companies, including Rautaruukki and Finnlines, that would own and operate the Finnpusku system. However, due to delays in negotiations Rautaruukki, concerned about the continuous supply of raw materials to the Raahe Steel Works, decided to order one pusher and two barges for itself and signed a building contract with Hollming on 27 September 1984. A follow-up order for another pusher and three more barges was signed on 14 March 1985 by joint shipping companies formed by Effoa Oy
Effoa
Finland Steamship Company was a Finnish shipping company founded in 1883 by Captain Lars Krogius. In Finnish and Swedish The company was usually referred to simply as FÅA. In 1976, the company changed its name to Effoa, a phonetic spelling of the abbreviation FÅA.The company was a founding member...
(20 %), Oy Finnlines Ltd (16 %), Hollming Oy (10 %), Neste Oy (25 %), Palkkiyhtymä Oy (10 %), Oy Paratug Ltd (5 %), Rautaruukki Oy (9 %) and Thomesto Oy (5 %). All vessels were managed and manned by Finnlines.
While the pushers were built completely in Finland, to reduce the building costs the steel work of the barges was subcontracted to a Portuguese
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
shipyard Estaleiros Navais de Setubal in Setúbal
Setúbal
Setúbal is the main city in Setúbal Municipality in Portugal with a total area of 172.0 km² and a total population of 118,696 inhabitants in the municipality. The city proper has 89,303 inhabitants....
, from where they were towed to Hollming for outfitting. The total price of the Finnpusku system was FIM 300 million (US$61 million). The first pusher, Rautaruukki, and two barges, Kalla and Tasku, were delivered to Rautaruukki on 31 October 1986 and the second pusher, Finn, and barges Baltic, Board and Bulk to the joint shipping companies "Puskija", "Proomu I", "Proomu II" and "Proomu III" on 28 April 1987. It was estimated that the two pushers and five barges of the Finnpusku system would carry one third of the ten million tons of bulk cargo arriving in Finland by sea every year.
Combination
A Finnpusku pusher-barge combination consists of one pusher vessel and one barge. The overall length of the combination is 166.6 metres (546.6 ft) and its breadth and draft at summer load lineWaterline
The term "waterline" generally refers to the line where the hull of a ship meets the water surface. It is also the name of a special marking, also known as the national Load Line or Plimsoll Line, to be positioned amidships, that indicates the draft of the ship and the legal limit to which a ship...
are that of the barge, 27.2 metres (89.2 ft) and 6.7 metres (22 ft), respectively. However, in the brackish water
Brackish water
Brackish water is water that has more salinity than fresh water, but not as much as seawater. It may result from mixing of seawater with fresh water, as in estuaries, or it may occur in brackish fossil aquifers. The word comes from the Middle Dutch root "brak," meaning "salty"...
of the Baltic Sea it can be loaded to a maximum draught of 6.85 metres (22.5 ft). During ballast
Sailing ballast
Ballast is used in sailboats to provide moment to resist the lateral forces on the sail. Insufficiently ballasted boats will tend to tip, or heel, excessively in high winds. Too much heel may result in the boat capsizing. If a sailing vessel should need to voyage without cargo then ballast of...
legs the pusher maintains its normal draught while the barge is ballasted to a draught of 5.6 metres (18.4 ft) to reduce the displacement from 20,930 tons to 17,630 tons. In such loading condition the main deck of the barge is at the same level with the pusher's gunwale
Gunwale
The gunwale is a nautical term describing the top edge of the side of a boat.Wale is the same word as the skin injury, a wheal, which, too, forms a ridge. Originally the gunwale was the "Gun ridge" on a sailing warship. This represented the strengthening wale or structural band added to the design...
. The tonnage of the combination is that of the pusher and barge combined, 10,620 GT
Gross tonnage
Gross tonnage is a unitless index related to a ship's overall internal volume. Gross tonnage is different from gross register tonnage...
, 3,184 NT
Net tonnage
Net tonnage is a dimensionless index calculated from the total moulded volume of the ship's cargo spaces by using a mathematical formula...
and 14,447 DWT
Deadweight tonnage
Deadweight tonnage is a measure of how much weight a ship is carrying or can safely carry. It is the sum of the weights of cargo, fuel, fresh water, ballast water, provisions, passengers, and crew...
.
The combination is classified
Classification society
A classification society is a non-governmental organization that establishes and maintains technical standards for the construction and operation of ships and offshore structures...
by Det Norske Veritas
Det Norske Veritas
Stiftelsen Det Norske Veritas is a classification society organized as a foundation, with the objective of "Safeguarding life, property, and the environment". The organization's history goes back to 1864, when the foundation was established in Norway to inspect and evaluate the technical condition...
with a class notation of +1A1, Pusher/Barge Unit, Ice IA+. It has the highest Finnish-Swedish ice class
Finnish-Swedish ice class
The Finnish-Swedish ice class is an ice class assigned to a vessel operating in first-year ice in the Baltic Sea and calling Finnish or Swedish ports...
, 1A Super, which means that it is designed to operate in difficult ice conditions mainly without icebreaker assistance. When the Finnpusku system entered service in the mid-1980s, its icegoing capability was superior to most conventional bulk carriers.
Finnpusku uses a unique rigid coupling system, Wärtsilä Marine Locomotive, which consists of two hydraulic locking pins, one on each side of the pusher, and one fixed pin in the bow. When connected, the hydraulic pins exert a transverse force of 450 tons to the sockets, forcing the jaws of the barge apart by 45 millimetres (1.8 in), and the angled faces of the coupling pins push the pusher forwards, resulting in a longitudinal force, also of 450 tons, at the bow pin. The three-point connection removes all degrees of freedom and results in the combination behaving hydrodynamically like a single ship, allowing unrestricted service and independent operation in the severe ice conditions of the Gulf of Bothnia. The pusher can be connected to the barge at three different levels, removing the need to ballast the barge to the same draught as the pusher when not carrying cargo. In addition to mechanical coupling the pusher is connected to the barge by several electrical cables on the starboard side and flexible pipes on the port side. The latter allow the pusher's fuel and freshwater tanks to be topped up from the much larger storage tanks of the barge.
The combination of a pusher and a barge is usually referred to by using the names of both vessels, e.g. Rautaruukki-Board.
Pushers
Initially there were two pushers in the Finnpusku system, Rautaruukki and Finn, built by Hollming in 1986 and 1987, respectively. After capsizing in 1990 Finn was rebuilt and returned to service as Steel in 1991.In 1991 Herakles
Herakles (pusher)
Herakles was a pusher vessel owned by Finnish towing and marine salvage company Alfons Håkans Oy Ab. The ship, originally built as salvage tug Into in 1967, was converted to a pusher in 1991 to be chartered to Rautaruukki Oyj and later ESL Shipping Ltd as the third pusher vessel for Finnpusku, a...
, a salvage tug
Salvage tug
A salvage tug is a specialized type of tugboat which is used to rescue or marine salvage ships which are in distress or in danger of sinking, or which have already sunk or run aground....
built in 1967 and owned by Finnish towing and marine salvage
Marine salvage
Marine salvage is the process of rescuing a ship, its cargo, or other property from peril. Salvage encompasses rescue towing, refloating a sunken or grounded vessel, or patching or repairing a ship...
company Alfons Håkans, was converted to a pusher and chartered to Rautaruukki as the third pusher of the Finnpusku system. After the conversion the Herakles was chartered to Rautaruukki and continued to operate as part of the transport system until her demise in 3 March 2004 when she sank with the barge Bulk near Swedish Grundkallen
Grundkallen
Grundkallen is a Swedish lighthouse on a shallow of the same name in the southern part of the Gulf of Bothnia, some northeast of Öregrund. The current lighthouse was built in 1961 to replace a lightship in the same location...
lighthouse in the Bothnian Sea
Bothnian Sea
The Bothnian Sea links the Bothnian Bay with the Baltic proper. Kvarken is situated between the two. Together, the Bothnian Sea and Bay make up a larger geographical entity, the Gulf of Bothnia...
.
Rautaruukki and Steel
- Main articles: Steel (pusher)Steel (pusher)Steel is a Finnish pusher vessel owned and operated by ESL Shipping. It is part of the Finnpusku integrated tug and barge system developed in the 1980s by Finnlines, a Finnish shipping company that also managed the vessel until 2003, in co-operation with Rautaruukki for the transportation needs of...
and Rautaruukki (pusher)Rautaruukki (pusher)Rautaruukki is a Finnish pusher vessel owned and operated by ESL Shipping. It is part of the Finnpusku integrated tug and barge system developed in the 1980s by Finnlines, a Finnish shipping company that also managed the vessel until 2003, in co-operation with Rautaruukki for the transportation...
The pushers of the Finnpusku system are 41.7 metres (136.8 ft) long and have a breadth of 14.37 metres (47.1 ft) at the waterline and 15.5 metres (50.9 ft) at the bridge wings. The draught and depth to upper deck, 6.7 metres (22 ft) and 10 metres (32.8 ft) respectively, are the same as those of a fully laden barge.
One of the most prominent features of the pushers is the high superstructure rising 22 metres (72 ft) from the waterline. In addition to accommodation, mess and dayroom for the crew of nine, it initially housed two bridges at different levels. The lower bridge on the third deck was originally intended to be used when the pusher is operating on its own without a barge, allowing more comfortable conditions for the crew — the chairs in the upper bridge on the seventh deck were equipped with seatbelts due to the large motions of the vessel when operating independently. However, the lower bridge was rarely used and the space was later rebuilt for other use in both pushers. The upper bridge, with bridge wings extending beyond the pusher's breadth, is equipped to allow one man bridge operation.
Propulsion power is provided by two six-cylinder Sulzer
Sulzer (manufacturer)
Sulzer Ltd. is a Swiss industrial engineering and manufacturing firm, founded by Salomon Sulzer-Bernet in 1775 and established as Sulzer Brothers Ltd. in 1834 in Winterthur, Switzerland. Today it is a publicly owned company with international subsidiaries...
6ZAL40 4-stroke medium-speed diesel engines running on heavy fuel oil, manufactured under licence by Wärtsilä
Wärtsilä
Wärtsilä is a Finnish corporation which manufactures and services power sources and other equipment in the marine and energy markets. The core products of Wärtsilä include large combustion engines...
, each with a maximum continuous output of 3840 kW at 380 rpm, giving the combination a service speed of 13.4 knots. A Lohmann & Stolterfoht reduction gearbox connects the main engines to a propeller shaft driving a 4.7-metre (4.7 metres (15.4 ft)) four-bladed Rauma-Repola Liaaen controllable-pitch propeller and a 900 kVa Strömberg
Stromberg
-People:*Lyndon Stromberg, American sculptor and designer*Karl Stromberg, the villain in the James Bond film The Spy Who Loved Me*Joseph R. Stromberg, historian with the Ludwig von Mises Institute*Glenn Strömberg, Swedish soccer player...
shaft generator used to power the bow thruster. The main engines are equipped with steam-generating exhaust boilers to improve the overall efficiency of the power plant. Electricity is provided by two Wärtsilä-Vasa 4R22HF diesel engines, each producing 590 kW at 1,000 rpm, that are connected to 710 kVa Strömberg alternators. The auxiliary generating sets are mounted side by side above the propeller shaft due to the narrow hull. A 158 kW Volvo Penta
Volvo Penta
Volvo Penta was founded in 1907 in conjunction with the production of the first marine engine, B1. The Penta company soon became an established internal combustion engine manufacturer, which in 1927 delivered the engine to Volvo's first passenger car....
TMD102A emergency generator is located on the main deck level in the smoke stack.
While usually connected to a barge, the pushers are also capable of operating independently. However, the low metacentric height
Metacentric height
The metacentric height is a measurement of the static stability of a floating body. It is calculated as the distance between the centre of gravity of a ship and its metacentre . A larger metacentric height implies greater stability against overturning...
of the vessels, only 0.5–0.6 m (1.6–2 ft), results in large roll amplitudes and pitching, making the pushers very uncomfortable in severe weather. For this reason short transit journeys without a barge are done only when it is absolutely necessary.
Herakles
When salvage tug Herakles was converted to a pusher, a new wheelhouse was installed on top of a cylindrical pillar 14.2 m (46.59 ft) above the old superstructure, the hull was modified to accept the coupling devices, additional diesel generator was installed to power the bow thruster of barge and propulsion and steering gear was upgraded. The conversion also included refitting the existing barges with new coupling devices since Herakles, having considerably smaller breadth than the original Finnpusku pushers and a different hull shape, was incompatible with the original rigid three-point Wärtsilä Marine Locomotive coupling. The Herakles and the barges were fitted with JapanJapan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
ese Articouple K articulated coupling system that allowed free pitching of the tug relative to the barge.
Being considerably less powerful than Rautaruukki and Steel, Herakles received new main engines and propellers in 1995. While the engine output was nearly doubled to 4060 kW, she remained underpowered in comparison with the original Finnpusku pushers. She also had a lower Finnish-Swedish ice class, 1B.
Barges
The barges of the Finnpusku system were built in two series, Kalla and Tasku in 1986 and Baltic, Board and Bulk in 1987. Their hulls were constructed by the Portuguese shipyard Estaleiros Navais de Setubal and towed to Hollming in Rauma for outfitting. Of these Baltic was renamed Botnia after capsizing and Bulk sank along with pusher Herakles in 2004.Hull and machinery
As the Finnpusku system is designed to operate independently in the severe ice conditions of the Bothnian SeaBothnian Sea
The Bothnian Sea links the Bothnian Bay with the Baltic proper. Kvarken is situated between the two. Together, the Bothnian Sea and Bay make up a larger geographical entity, the Gulf of Bothnia...
, special attention has been paid to the hull form. The spoon-shaped bow has a low stem
Stem (ship)
The stem is the very most forward part of a boat or ship's bow and is an extension of the keel itself and curves up to the wale of the boat. The stem is more often found on wooden boats or ships, but not exclusively...
angle to reduce icebreaking resistance and the sides of the barge are flared to prevent the combination from becoming immobilized by ice ridges and compressive ice fields. When the pusher is coupled to the barge, the deep stern notch forms a streamlined aftship with seakeeping characteristics similar to those of conventional ships.
When coupled, the power for the ramps, pumps, floodlights and other equipment onboard the barge is taken from the pusher. When the power cables on the starboard side of the pusher's superstructure are disconnected, a 200 kVA Volvo Penta TD100CRC generating set starts automatically and provides power to operate the equipment when the barge is left alone for loading or unloading. To increase maneuverability in ports the barges are equipped with a 680 kW controllable-pitch bow thruster which is powered by the pusher's shaft generator.
Cargo space
The barges of the Finnpusku system are of the so-called deck cargo type, meaning that the cargo is carried on the main deck in an open cargo space instead of closed holds as in conventional bulk carrierBulk carrier
A bulk carrier, bulk freighter, or bulker is a merchant ship specially designed to transport unpackaged bulk cargo, such as grains, coal, ore, and cement in its cargo holds. Since the first specialized bulk carrier was built in 1852, economic forces have fueled the development of these ships,...
s. The cargo space, surrounded by coaming
Coaming
Coaming is any vertical surface on a ship designed to deflect or prevent entry of water. It usually refers to raised section of deck plating around an opening, such as a hatch...
s 7.5 to 9 m (24.6 to 29.5 ) high, has a free area of 2650 square metres (3,169.4 sq yd) and a total volume of 20000 cubic metres (706,293.3 cu ft). The total cargo carrying capacity is about 13,400 tons. Bulk cargo is loaded either by shiploader
Shiploader
A Shiploader is a huge machine used for loading bulk solid materials like iron ore, coal, fertilizers, grains into marine vessels for transportation by sea. Shiploaders are a very common sight in ports and jetties from where bulk materials are exported....
s or bulk-handling crane
Bulk-handling crane
A bulk-handling crane is one that, instead of a simple hook that can handle a range of slung loads, has an integral grab for lifting bulk cargoes such as coal, mineral ore etc....
s, but while the cargo deck is strengthened for grab discharging, the barges are also equipped with two side ramps to facilitate faster discharging by wheel loaders and dump truck
Dump truck
A dump truck is a truck used for transporting loose material for construction. A typical dump truck is equipped with a hydraulically operated open-box bed hinged at the rear, the front of which can be lifted up to allow the contents to be deposited on the ground behind the truck at the site of...
s. This more efficient method also removes the need to invest in discharging equipment in the unloading port. The ramps are 14.5 metres (47.6 ft) long, have a free driving width of 7.6 metres (24.9 ft) and are strengthened for axle loads up to 52 metric tons (51.2 LT).
There are some differences between the first and the second series of barges. The first two were built with lower side coamings due to the limited clearance under the loader at the port of Luleå. When the Finnpusku system was developed, the volume enclosed by the fixed coamings was included in the tonnage
Tonnage
Tonnage is a measure of the size or cargo carrying capacity of a ship. The term derives from the taxation paid on tuns or casks of wine, and was later used in reference to the weight of a ship's cargo; however, in modern maritime usage, "tonnage" specifically refers to a calculation of the volume...
of the barge by the rules regarding ship measurement, so to minimize this the side coamings in Kalla and Tasku consisted of removable cassettes held in place by vertical supports. However, the rules were later changed so that none of the open deck was included in tonnage assessment, so the last three barges had their cassettes welded in place. The second series was also originally designed with higher coamings all around to increase capacity for cargo with low stowage factor
Stowage factor
In shipping, the stowage factor indicates how many cubic metres of space one metric ton of a particular type of cargo occupies in a hold of a cargo ship. It is calculated as the ratio of the stowage space required under normal conditions, including the stowage losses caused by the means of...
, such as coal, but restrictions placed by the cargo handling equipment of the ports resulted in a compromise with lower coamings forward of the side ramps and higher towards the aft.
Since the cargo is open to the elements, there are four drainage pipes and six storm shutters, gravity-closed hatches opened by internal water pressure, on both sides of the barge to remove water from the cargo space. These are often covered by cargo, so the forward part of the barge Bulk was equipped with a retractable, air-filled cloth cover to protect the cargo from the water splashing over the bow in heavy weather. Due to problems especially during the winter months it was later removed and not installed on the other barges.
As the cargo is carried on the main deck, the barges have considerable tank capacity belowdecks. In addition to 12,413.75 m3 of ballast water in the side tanks and 12,304 m3 of void space in the middle of the barge there are tanks for 592.66 m3 of heavy fuel oil that can be used to replenish the fuel tanks of the pusher, 82.05 m3 of marine diesel oil for the pusher's auxiliary engines and the barge's own generator and 82.05 m3 of freshwater.
Career
After the last vessels of the Finnpusku integrated tug barge system entered service in 1987, the barges owned by different companies were operated interchangeably and when the transportation department of Rautaruukki required additional capacity, it time-charteredChartering (shipping)
Chartering is an activity within the shipping industry. In some cases a charterer may own cargo and employ a shipbroker to find a ship to deliver the cargo for a certain price, called freight rate. Freight rates may be on a per-ton basis over a certain route or alternatively may be expressed in...
the second pusher owned by the joint shipping company. Although the main purpose of the Finnpusku system was to supply the Raahe Steel Works with raw materials from various ports of the Baltic Sea, such as limestone from the port of Storugns
Kappelshamn
Kappelshamn is a minor locality situated in Gotland Municipality, Gotland County, Sweden, with 112 inhabitants in 2005 The village, located northeast of Visby and north of Slite, is mainly known for its race track, Gotland Ring...
in Gotland
Gotland
Gotland is a county, province, municipality and diocese of Sweden; it is Sweden's largest island and the largest island in the Baltic Sea. At 3,140 square kilometers in area, the region makes up less than one percent of Sweden's total land area...
, iron ore concentrate from Luleå
Luleå
- Transportation :Local buses are run by .A passenger train service is available from Luleå Centralstation on Sweden's national SJ railway service northbound to Narvik on the Norwegian coast, or southbound to Stockholm. See Rail transport in Sweden....
, Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
, and coal from Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe is the eastern part of Europe. The term has widely disparate geopolitical, geographical, cultural and socioeconomic readings, which makes it highly context-dependent and even volatile, and there are "almost as many definitions of Eastern Europe as there are scholars of the region"...
an ports, the jointly owned pusher and barges were also used for other cargoes such as lumber
Lumber
Lumber or timber is wood in any of its stages from felling through readiness for use as structural material for construction, or wood pulp for paper production....
by the owner companies and, to reduce the number of southbound ballast legs, the pusher-barge combinations carried occasional iron ore concentrate and pellet cargoes from Luleå to various ports in the Baltic Sea for the Swedish mining company LKAB
LKAB
LKAB is a Swedish mining company. The company mines iron ore at Kiruna and at Malmberget in northern Sweden. The company was established in 1890, and has been 100% state-owned since the 1950s...
.
By the end of 1987 the amount of cargo transported by the Finnpusku system, 7.5 million tons per year, had grown beyond the capability of the transportation department that was under the central administration of the steel company. It was decided to replace it with a subsidiary
Subsidiary
A subsidiary company, subsidiary, or daughter company is a company that is completely or partly owned and wholly controlled by another company that owns more than half of the subsidiary's stock. The subsidiary can be a company, corporation, or limited liability company. In some cases it is a...
company that would inherit the responsibilities and obligations of the transportation department and deal with both the parent company's own cargoes and external shipping business. The new company, JIT-Trans, was established on 1 May 1988.
Due to the difficulties in the timing of the transportation needs of Rautaruukki and Finnlines the time-chartering of the second pusher did not fulfill the requirements of the steel company's raw material supply schedule. It was decided to transfer the ownership of the pusher Finn and barges Baltic, Board and Bulk to new joint shipping companies owned by Rautaruukki Oy (95 %) and Oy JIT-Trans Ltd (5 %). Once all vessels were under the control of a single company, these issues disappeared and the Finnpusku system was found out to be suitable for the transportation needs of Rautaruukki in both port-to-port transport and lightening
Ship-to-ship cargo transfer
A ship-to-ship transfer operation is the transfer of cargo between seagoing ships positioned alongside each other, either while stationary or underway. Cargoes typically transferred via STS methods include crude oil, liquefied gas , bulk cargo, and petroleum products.Most of cargo operations are...
large bulk carriers outside the port of Raahe.
In 1989 JIT-Trans signed a long-term contract with SSAB
SSAB
SSAB Swedish Steel AB , or simply SSAB is a Swedish company, formed in 1978 and specialised in processing raw material to steel. Industrivärden is the largest shareholder.-Swedish operations:...
for the transportation of iron ore concentrate and pellets from Luleå to Oxelösund
Oxelösund
Oxelösund is a locality and the seat of Oxelösund Municipality in Södermanland County, Sweden with 10,843 inhabitants in 2005.- History :The harbour at Oxelösund has been used for at least 500 years. In the 19th century, an increased extraction from the Mining district of Central Sweden , made...
. Since Finland and Sweden had no reciprocity
Reciprocity (international relations)
In international relations and treaties, the principle of reciprocity states that favours, benefits, or penalties that are granted by one state to the citizens or legal entities of another, should be returned in kind....
agreement for cabotage
Cabotage
Cabotage is the transport of goods or passengers between two points in the same country by a vessel or an aircraft registered in another country. Originally starting with shipping, cabotage now also covers aviation, railways and road transport...
, part of the Finnpusku system had to be transferred to the Swedish Register of Ships. Rautaruukki sold pusher Rautaruukki and barges Kalla and Tasku to new joint shipping companies formed by the Finnish companies' Swedish subsidiaries and half of its shares in the other joint shipping companies to Dalsbruk, another Finnish steel company. Despite the changes in ownership and flag Finnlines retained the management of the vessels through its Swedish subsidiary.
In the 1990s the ownership of the pushers and barges was transferred to a Finnish financial institution Suomen Asiakasrahoitus (later known as Merita Rahoitus and nowadays as Nordea
Nordea
Nordea Bank AB is a Stockholm-based financial services group operating in Northern Europe. The bank is the result of the successive mergers and acquisitions of the Swedish, Finnish, Danish and Norwegian banks of Nordbanken, Merita Bank, Unibank and Kreditkassen that took place between 1997 and 2000...
Rahoitus) and by 1996 all vessels of the Finnpusku system were again under the Finnish flag.
In July 2003 a seven-year contract for the transportation of raw materials in the Baltic Sea, worth 140 million euro
Euro
The euro is the official currency of the eurozone: 17 of the 27 member states of the European Union. It is also the currency used by the Institutions of the European Union. The eurozone consists of Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg,...
s, was signed between JIT-Trans and Aspo Group. As part of the agreement, the ownership and management of the Finnpusku system was transferred to ESL Shipping, a subsidiary of the Aspo Group. Under the new owner the vessels have occasionally carried other cargo as well, including coal to the Hanasaari Power Plant
Hanasaari Power Plant
Hanasaari Power Plant is a coal-fired cogeneration power plant in Helsinki, Finland. Its chimney has a height of .-History:...
in Helsinki
Helsinki
Helsinki is the capital and largest city in Finland. It is in the region of Uusimaa, located in southern Finland, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, an arm of the Baltic Sea. The population of the city of Helsinki is , making it by far the most populous municipality in Finland. Helsinki is...
.
In February 2011 ESL Shipping signed a new long-term contract with Rautaruukki for the transportation of the raw materials of the steel industry in the Baltic Sea. The pushers and barges of the Finnpusku system were docked at Arctech Helsinki Shipyard
Arctech Helsinki Shipyard
Arctech Helsinki Shipyard is a shipbuilding company in Helsinki, Finland. It was founded in late 2010 as a joint venture between STX Finland Cruise Oy and United Shipbuilding Corporation, when the latter purchased half of the Hietalahti shipyard...
and modernized by STX Finland Lifecycle Services during the summer of 2011. In addition to basic maintenance and machinery overhaul the outdated SELMA automation system in all six vessels was upgraded and the cargo deck plating in the barges, damaged after years of elevator loading and grab discharging, was strengthened with new 10 millimetre (0.393700787401575 in) steel plating. The Rautaruukki arrived at the shipyard in late June and the Steel in mid-August.
While the Finnpusku system has been criticized for its constant need of icebreaker assistance during the winter months especially on the Raahe–Luleå -route and replacing the vessels with new icebreaking cargo ships to free 1–2 icebreakers was proposed by the Finnish Maritime Administration in 2007, the pusher-barge combinations remain in year-round service in the Baltic Sea after more than two decades.
Accidents
There have been two serious accidents involving the vessels of the Finnpusku system, one resulting in the loss of eight lives and the other in the total loss of the pusher-barge combination.Finn-Baltic
Pusher Finn capsized along with the barge Baltic outside Hanko, Finland, on 27 December 1990 at around 12:25 (UTC+02). The pusher-barge combination Finn-Baltic was en route from Raahe to Koverhar with 13,398 tons of Malmberget A Fines (MAF) iron ore concentrate when the cargo shifted in heavy weather, resulting in the loss of stability and the vessel capsizing in 10–15 seconds. Seven crew members and a pilot lost their lives in the accident, but the chief engineerChief Engineer
In marine transportation, the chief engineer is a licensed mariner in charge of the engineering department on a merchant vessel. "Chief engineer" is the official title of someone qualified to oversee the entire engine department; the qualification is colloquially called a "chief's...
and first officer
First officer
In commercial aviation, the first officer is the second pilot of an aircraft. The first officer is second-in-command of the aircraft, to the captain who is the legal commander...
survived in an air pocket in the aftmost part of the engine room and were later rescued through a hole cut in the bottom.
The Finn-Baltic was rightened two months later by a Soviet crane ship Stanislav Yudin and towed to Rauma for rebuilding. The pusher returned to service in 1991 as Steel and the barge as Botnia.