Markey supplies tug with software-integrated winch

Front and rear views of the DEPCF-52 75HP Electric Hawser winch from Markey Machinery.

(SEATTLE, WA — October 29, 2007) Markey Machinery has announced that it will supply the second DEPCF-52 75HP Electric Hawser winch for a series of 6,800 horsepower tugs constructed at Nichols Brothers Shipyards.  The DEPCF-52 Electric Hawser winch is slated for installation on the tug Vigilant. This latest tug will be under charter from BayDelta to Crowley Marine Services, which plans to use the tug and bow mounted electric hawser winch for service in Alaska on Cook Inlet.

The type DEPCF-52 was designed for ship assist and tanker escort service.  The winch features an automatic level wind, 75 horsepower electric drive motor, and hands free Render-Recover controls. The Render-Recover controls enable the tug captain to adjust the set point for automatic cable tensioning operations to full rated line speed (378 ft/minute) and load (46,227 lbs.). A band brake applies 600,000 lbs of holding power to the winches single drum.  This winch can carry up to 750 feet of 10-inch synthetic line.

The winch incorporates technology to ease the mariners’ task of monitoring winch operations and managing mission critical tug-ship escort equipment. Winch system software is fully integrated into the winch drive and render recover control system, enabling the status to be displayed to the operator during winch operations. Operator-selected drive system alarms can be date-time stamped, logged to file, and instantly retrieved by plugging a flash-type drive into the panel-mounted USB port. The software allows mariners to analyze winch performance during escort events or review cumulative winch-hawser stress information. This software puts diagnostic and corrective tools in the hands of the winch operator.

By Professional Mariner Staff