CIB Shipyard in Brest proceeded to launch a pusher-tugboat

25 March 2019 | © Mer et Marine

CIB Shipyard in Brest proceeded to launch the Le Macareux pusher-tugboat on March 18th. It is the first RP 10 type tubboat that CIB built for the French Navy. This program has been notified in January 2017 by the French Navy to a group formed by Merré and CMN, the first being like CIB a subsidiary of the BMA group.

Built by Merré in Nort-sur-Erdre, near Nantes, the leadrship, L'Aigrette, was put into service last spring in Dakar. After experimenting with this prototype and modifying some elements after the first feedback, serial production has begun, with the Puffin being the first RP 10 to be released in the final configuration.

The program is aimed at the construction of 29 tugboats of this type by 2022. The industrial assembly normally foresees the construction of 15 boats at Merré and CIB, the 14 others to be produced by CMN. For the time being, a firm tranche of seven RP 10s has been notified by the French Navy.

In addition to the Puffin, the other five will be delivered by the end of the year, two being made in Nort-sur-Erdre and three others in Cherbourg. And the upcoming reception of the second of the series must lead to the consolidation of the first of the three conditional slices, which includes the following eight RP 10.

Designed by the Merré design office, these boats adopt the SEEM 12-800ST design. Equipped with a steel hull and an aluminum superstructure, the new tugboats in the French Navy are 12 meters long and have a bollard pull capacity of 10 tons. They are armed by four sailors and can reach the speed of 8 knots.

Complementary to large harbor tugboats, these boats are intended to assist surface vessels and submarines in their docking, fitting and channeling maneuvers.

The RP 10 will be stationed in the naval bases of Brest, Toulon and Cherbourg, in Martinique, New Caledonia, Polynesia, Reunion and Mayotte, as well as in Djibouti and Dakar.