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15IMPROVING THE ORGANIZATION OF THE TUG FLEET OPERATIONS
Malaksiano M.
PhD, Head of Department of Technical Cybernetics and Information Technology R.V. Merkta
Odessa National Maritime University, Odessa, Ukraine
ABSTRACT
Recently, the government of Ukraine and the Port Authority of Ukraine have taken a number of measures aimed at creating favorable conditions for attracting non-state companies to work in Ukrainian seaports. In particular, this also applies to the towing fleet operating companies. In the near future, non-state towing fleet operating companies may enter Ukrainian ports. In this regard, it is expected that competition in the tug services market may increase significantly. Therefore, the issues related to increasing the efficiency and competitiveness of the towing fleet operating companies are becoming more relevant for the Ukrainian sea ports. Research in this direction is important both for private companies that plan to enter Ukrainian ports and for state tug fleet operators, which will have to compete in the new conditions. This paper analyzes the state of the Ukrainian tug fleet, considers the issues of assessing the performance indicators of the tug fleet and proposes methods for improving the organization of the tug fleet in Ukrainian ports.
Keywords: tug fleet management, seaports, towing ships, handling ships in ports.
Introduction. Nowadays Ukraine is undergoing a reform that provides for the modernization of the towing fleet and improving the quality of its work by creating a competitive market for sea towing services. While this market is in the stage of formation. The most important factor in its formation was the termination of state regulation of the cost of towing services in accordance with the law on the seaports of Ukraine [1].
Tugs are used on all types of waterways and are operated in water basins in many countries of the world. Usually these are small or medium-sized vessels, the design of which can vary significantly depending on the purpose and area of navigation. Tugs are distinguished from other vessels by their high power density, great maneuverability, increased hull strength and stability, and the presence on board of special devices for towing and pushing.
Tugs are not always highly specialized in their purpose and can often perform several functions. For example, harbor tugs have additional rescue and fire-fighting equipment on board and are capable of performing the functions of rescue tugs in the port, and escort tugs are capable of performing the work of tilting tugs.
Port and offshore tugboats are a numerous type of tugs, they are used in all ports with heavy traffic, in harbors and shipyards, where they are used for mooring, transportation, ice breaking and other operations. The tilting tug has a relatively small size, the displacement usually does not exceed 400 tons, the power is from 200 to 2000 hp, the speed is 10-15 knots, the navigation autonomy is small, since all tasks are performed in the coastal zone, the crew of the tug is 2-4 people. An alternative to the use of tugboats is to equip ships with thrusters, which are usually installed in the bow and stern. Bow thrusters allow vessels to dock independently. This is economically justified in areas with undeveloped port infrastructure. In inland waters, on rivers, reservoirs and lakes, pusher tugs are now widely used. Pushers are adapted for transportation of non-self-propelled vessels and barges. Tractor tugs, in contrast to pushers, also have devices for towing. The power of the pusher tugs varies from 100 to 10,000 hp. depending on the characteristics of the waterway, the
carrying capacity of the trains that they push and for which they are designed.
In works [2-4], methods of project management for the development of infrastructure facilities are proposed, as well as methods for creating decision support systems for the development of complex industrial systems. Work [5] is devoted to the development of methods for increasing the stability of performance indicators of technical systems. In articles [6], the simulation methods are used to solve the problems of optimizing the operation of sea terminals. Profiling development strategy in the management of infrastructure projects was studied in [7]. In [8-11], methods and models of optimal fleet management for shipping companies are proposed. Justification of the optimal choice of ships, taking into account the structure of cargo traffic and possible speed modes, is performed in [12, 13].
The aim of the work. This paper deals with the problem of assessing the performance indicators of the tug fleet. The purpose of the work is to analyze the Ukrainian tug fleet, study the problem of assessing the performance indicators of the tug fleet and substantiate methods for improving the organization of the tug fleet in Ukrainian ports.
Materials and Methods. At present, 13 commercial seaports, the Port Authority of Ukraine and the state-owned company "Ukrtransnafta" are the major players in the towing market. They have about a hundred tugboats in their assets. The market participants are also the private companies "Transship", "Marconi", Nikolaev Alumina Plant, "Ekoflot", but they still own only two dozen tugs.
The main representatives in the towing market are state-owned enterprises, which in their tariff policy are still guided by the old standards. Thus, the payment for the work of tugboats during mooring, unmooring, relocation of vessels is determined according to tables depending on the size of vessels in cubic meters.
According to the Ministry of Infrastructure, in Ukraine there were about a hundred tugboats of various types belonging to various state-owned companies (pusher tugs of the Ukrainian Danube Shipping Company and the "Ustdunaivodput" enterprise were not taken into account). And about 20 more tugboats,
which are operated by private companies. Among them there are both private tugs and leased in state ones [14].
The age composition of this fleet is noteworthy. Only 10 vessels are relatively new - they are up to 10 years old, and 63 tugboats are over 30 years old, of which 39 can be attributed to very old, with an age of over 40 years [15]. In developed countries, such older vessels are usually not used, as this leads to increased fuel consumption, increased repair costs and other negative consequences associated with the operation of old equipment. From the general list of tugboats belonging to state-owned enterprises, 6 units were in unsatisfactory technical condition, 9 units required repair, 8 units were in the decommissioning stage, and 5 units did not have real work and were laid off [15].
But the Ukrainian towing fleet is outdated not only physically, it is also outdated morally. The size of the world's ships has grown significantly in recent years. Ukrainian ports are visited by container ships with a capacity of more than 10,000 TEU, a length of more than 300 meters with a large sail area. Vessels with a deadweight of up to 200 thousand tons and a length of more than 300 meters began to regularly call in large ports. Older tugs lack the power and maneuverability to service such vessels. If we analyze the capacity of the existing tug fleet of state-owned enterprises, it turns out that 40 tugboats have a capacity of less than 1000 hp, and only up to 17 have a capacity of more than 4000 hp. The cost of a modern tug is 10-13 million USD.
Table 1.
Distribution of the tug fleet in the ports of Ukraine by operators [15]
Operator Number of tugs %
Sea ports 85 74
The Port Authority of Ukraine 9 8
«Transship» 8 7
«Marconi» 5 4
Dnepro-Bugsky port 4 3
«Ukrtransnafta» 2 2
«Ekoflot» 2 2
Total 115 100
«Ukrtransnafta»_
Dnepro-Bugsky
port L «Marconi»
3% 4%
Fig. 1 Distribution of the tug fleet in the ports of Ukraine by operators
The distribution of the tug fleet serving the ports of Ukraine by age is presented in Table. 2 and Fig. 2.
Table 2.
Distribution of the tug fleet serving the ports of Ukraine by age [15]
Age, years Number of tugs %
up to 5 5 5
6-10 5 5
11-20 4 4
21-30 19 20
31-40 24 25
more than 40 39 41
Total 96 100
more than 40 31-40 years years
25% 41%
Fig. 2 Distribution of the tug fleet serving the ports of Ukraine by age
The distribution of the towing fleet serving the ports of Ukraine by engine power is presented in Table. 3 and Fig. 3.
Table 3.
Distribution of the tug fleet serving the ports of Ukraine by engine power [15]
Power, hp Number of tugs %
up to 1000 40 42
1000-2000 23 24
2000-3000 13 14
3000-4000 3 3
4000-5000 5 5
more than 5000 12 12
Total 96 100
Fig. 3 Distribution of the towing fleet serving the ports of Ukraine, by engine power
The required number of tugs in the port is determined by a number of factors: the intensity and regularity of ship calls, the type of vessels served, navigational conditions, etc. Substantiation of the appropriate number of tugs is a difficult task, as the intensity and regularity of ship calls can change significantly over time. Insufficient number of tugs can lead to an increase in the anchorage time of vessels due to the fact that sometimes vessels will have to spend extra time waiting for tugs for mooring operations. On the other hand, an excessive number of tugs will allow minimizing the waiting time for tugs, but at the same time the tug fleet itself will have to stand idle for a significant part of the time. The task of justifying a reasonable number of tugs is further complicated by the fact that, in addition to the intensity and uniformity of ship calls have not only local fluctuations in short periods of time, but they also
tend to significantly change in the long term. The use of classical mathematical methods of optimization does not allow to take into account all the factors that significantly affect the performance indicators of the tug fleet. Therefore, in order to investigate the problem of assessing the performance indicators of the tug fleet and justifying the required number of tugs in the port, we propose to build an appropriate decision support system based on simulation methods. The Java language was used to create this simulation model. The decision support system can be used both in 3D presentation mode and in the mode of high-speed runs of a series of experiments. Fig. 4 shows a fragment of the simulation model window during its work in the 3D presentation mode.
Fig. 4 Fragment of the software window of the decision support system for organizing the work of the tug fleet
The decision support system allows to measure the change in such indicators of the efficiency of the tug fleet as the average anchorage time, the variance of the anchorage time, the average expected ship service time, the occupancy rate of the tug fleet, etc., provided the intensity and uniformity of ship calls remains fixed. Also, the decision support system allows you to analyze how the performance indicators of the tug fleet are changing, provided that the number of tugs is fixed, and the intensity of ship calls varies.
Conclusions. In the near future, non-state operators of the towing fleet may enter Ukrainian ports. In this regard, it is expected that competition in the tug services market may increase significantly. Therefore, the issues related to increasing the efficiency and competitiveness of the companies-operators of the towing fleet in Ukrainian ports are becoming more relevant. The efficiency of the tug fleet depends on a number of factors: the intensity and regularity of ship calls, the number of tugs and their capacity, conditions of navigation, etc. In order to address the problem of assessing the performance indicators of the tug fleet and justifying the required number of tugs, it was proposed to develop and use an appropriate decision support system. The analysis of the Ukrainian tug fleet was carried out. Also, the problem of assessing the performance indicators of the tug fleet was studied and the methods of improving the organization of the tug fleet in Ukrainian ports were substantiated.
References
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