Cargo in the Shetlands
For nearly a century, the rugged coast and islands of Scotland were served by the handy little steam freight boats known as Puffers. They carried manufactured goods out to villages and farm produce back to the mainland. The recent delivery of the 27-by-9.7-meter Havara shows just how dramatically small coasters have developed over the past two generations. In fact, apart from that their role as a cargo carrier, there is little that the Puffer crews would recognize on the Havara.
The modern steel vessel is dedicated to carrying feed to the Shetland Island salmon farms. She will carry her 350-ton cargo of feed and can be crewed by only three people. The cargo capacity is somewhat larger than the earlier vessel also delivered from the builder Parkol Marine Engineering, at Middlesbrough UK, to LCL Shipping on the Island of Whalssay, the sixth largest of the Shetland Islands. The vessel is built to a design from S C McAllister & Company Ltd. Of York, England.
The bridge of the new ship has an array of computer screens in place of the traditional compass binnacle. In addition to navigational support, the screens report on the engine room. Main propulsion is provided by a pair of six-cylinder Cummins KTA19-M3 diesels, each delivering 600 HP at 1800 RPM to 1700 m/m propellers through Reintjes WAF 274 gears with 6.115:1 reduction.
A third 19-liter Cummins engine (KTA19-DM1), generating 480 HP at 1500 RPM, serves as an auxiliary to drive the ship’s generator and provide power to the hydraulic systems. In addition to an anchor and three mooring winches provided by EK Marine of Donegal, Ireland, the ship is fitted with a large crane for handling cargo when alongside the fish farms. A bow thruster also helps hold the ship in position when alongside a farm.
Additional auxiliary power is provided by a Cummins 6BCP-powered 100-kVA generator and a Onan MDKDU 27 kW harbour generator. All the engines are box-cooled and were supplied by L&M Engineering (UK) Ltd. Of Lerwick, Shetland. The Havara’s five modern Cummins engines serve a sophisticated array of equipment that would have left an engineer from one of the old steam-engine Puffer boats bemused and delighted.
Photos courtesy of L&M Engineering
For further information:
Steven Laurenson
Director - L&M Engineering (UK) Ltd.
Gremista, Lerwick,
Shetland, ZE1 0PX
Phone: +44 (0) 1595 692522
Alan Haig-Brown
Over 30 years as an author for global commercial marine and fishing publications backed with hands-on experience on commercial fishing boats and coastal freighters makes Alan Haig-Brown uniquely qualified to provide vessel reference articles for Cummins Marine. You can find him in shipyards around the world, and on his own website, www.haig-brown.com.
