Myanmar receives two new tugboats purchased from China

Myanma Port Authority under the Ministry of Transport and Communications received two tugboats from Union Resources & Engineering Co., Ltd. (UREC) of China at Nanthida jetty of Yangon yesterday.
The two tugboats named Sin Min-1 and Sin Min-2 left for Yangon on 2 August from China and refilled at Singapore, and arrived at Nanthida jetty yesterday morning.
The tender to build new tugboats was invited with the permission of Ministry of Transport and Communications in accordance with the terms and conditions. The Yunnan based Union Resources & Engineering Co., Ltd. (UREC) won the tender at $13.56 million and made agreement with Myanma Port Authority on 25 October 2019.
According to the terms of the contract, the two vessels were designed by Singapore-based Sea Tech Solutions International Pte., Ltd and constructed by Shunhai Shipyards Ltd. of Guangzhou Province.
The tugboat is 34 metres in length, 11.6 metres in width with four metres of draught and also equipped with Japanese-made two Yumma engines with 2,500 HP. The vessels can drive 12 nautical miles per hour. Therefore, it can support the pull-push operations of international cargo ships. It took 18 months for constructing the two tugboats and completed on 22 May 2021.
The Yangon port currently accommodates the ships with larger drafts than before. Therefore, the use of better tugboats by Myanma Port Authority can serve the safe pull-push operations for international cargo ships.—Nyein Thu/GNLM