Fairmount Marine BV started as General Agent Overseas for Fukada Salvage & Marine Works Company Ltd, Japan. From this Fairmount developed with some detours - e.g. sell-out of the then owned deep-sea tugs and semi-submersible barges to British interests in 1989 - over the years to one of the leading marine contractors for ocean towage, and heavy-lift transportation by barge. Fairmount worked with chartered vessels during the 1990ies. The Chinese tugs DE YUE, DE DA, DE HONG, and HUA AN were taken into long term charter in 1995. At the advent of the new century Fairmount got to the conviction, that there would be a market for new-built deep-sea tugs with high pulling power in the long term. Together with Münchmeyer Petersen Capital (MPC), Groningen the tug new building programme was developed in 2002. The tugs were built from August 2004 to May 2007 and are

All Fairmount class tugs were financed by special purpose limited partnerships managed by MPC Capital. These vessels are on a 10 year time-charter to Fairmount Marine BV with an option available to Fairmount Marine BV to buy the vessels after five years at pre-agreed purchase prices. The first two tugs were ordered from President Marine, Singapore in 2003. This was a natural move, as President Marine was building the tugs SALVISCOUNT und SALVANGUARD for Semco at that time, and the design of the Fairmount class was derived from these tugs. The design is by Vuyk Kenton, Singapore. The original design was developed from an AHTS's hull and was optimized for towing heavy objects. When President Marine declared insolvancy at the end of 2003 Fairmount had to look for a new shipyard. Fairmount found it in Niigata Shipbuilding & Repair, Japan. The contracts for the first two tugs were signed in April 2004. To the end of 2004 five tugs of the Fairmount class were on order at Niigata Shipyard & Repair. The keel laying ceremony for FAIRMOUNT SHERPA took place in Niigata, Japan in August 2004. The tugs were delivered in the following order: FAIRMOUNT SHERPA (delivered May 2005), FAIRMOUNT SUMMIT (October 2005), FAIRMOUNT ALPINE (May 2006), FAIRMOUNT GLACIER (July 2006), and FAIRMOUNT EXHIBITION (May 2007). The project was delayed approx. one year because of the difficulties with President Marine.

General: The tugs of the Fairmount class are conventional deep-sea tugs with an open stern, making them suitable for anchorhandling work. They are equipped with two propellers in fixed nozzles and a conventional rudder behind each nozzle. The hull is built with a frame spacing of 600mm. From forward to aft the hull is divided into fore peak, bow thruster's compartment, refrigeration machinery room, engine room, aft fuel tank area, steering gear compartment, and aft peak. The tugs are powered by four Wärtsilä W 6L 32 engines delivering 4x 3,000kW (4x 4,080bhp) at 750rpm. The engines use Intermediate Fuel Oil (IFO), in this case IFO180. It is mixed from Heavy Fuel Oil (HFO) and Marine Diesel Oil (MDO) or Marine Gas Oil (MGO) to get the required viscosity. The engines drive two four-bladed 3.85 m diameter controllable pitch propellers through Wärtsilä ´twin in-single out´ gearboxes with a 4.84:1 reduction. The propellers are running in fixed Lips HR-nozzles. The tugs have a free-running speed of 16.5kts. The maximum continous bollard pull was 200t and 205t at 110% MCR on trials. The tank capacities are: 539m³ diesel fuel, 2,201m³ intermediate fuel oil (IFO180), and 216m³ potable water. This gives an endurance of approx. 40 days of continous towing. The tugs are equipped with one bow thruster with 825kW output delivering 12.5 tonnes of thrust. The stern thruster has an output of 736kW delivering 10.5 tonnes of thrust. Both are from Nakashima Propeller Co. Ltd. The tugs are equipped with a fire-fighting system according to FiFi1 standard. Two Kumera fire-fighting pumps are coupled to the foreward end of two main engines delivering each 1,200m³/h. The pumps supply water to two monitors and the water curtain self-protection system by Fire Fighting Systems (FFS) of Norway. The main engines additionally drive two shaft generators by means of gearbox power take-of's. Additionally there are two Caterpillar driven generator sets rated at 370kW, and a Caterpillar emergency generator set at 99kW.

Tanktop Deck:

On this deck from forward to aft are placed: the bow thruster, the sewage treatment plant, two generator sets, the main engines, tanks, the stern thruster, and the steering gear room. The engine control room is located against the bulkhead between sewage treatment compartment and engine room. Below is the double-bottom with it's tanks.

Tween Deck:

On this deck from forward to aft are placed: the bow thruster motor, refrigeration machinery room, exhaust uptakes, (offshore)-chain lockers, floor opening above main engines, and tanks. In front of the tanks emergency exits are located on both of sides of the ship. Behind the tanks are the stern thruster motor and the steering gear room. Both are accessible by a tunnel beneath the tanks.

Main Deck:

The crew mess, the officer's mess and the recreation room are placed here behind the fore peak on the port side. Behind, between hull and winch room, the air handling unit (AHU) compartment, a salvage store and work shop, and a paint store are fitted. The starboard side houses the galley, the provision store, cooler and freezer rooms, laundry, and a common toilet. Behind, between hull and winch room, a change room, the CO2-room, and a deck store are located. The winch room houses an electro-hydraulic waterfall type winch with three drums. On the lower level two towing drums holding 1,500m x 76mm towing wire are fitted. On the upper level one anchorhandling drum with the same capacity is installed. It is only fitted with 300m x 76mm working wire to take advantage of the maximum pulling power in the first layer. The lower drum shaft carries non-declutchable gypsies for chains up to 3,5" diameter on each side. All drums are declutchable. The winch was provided by Kitagawa Kogyo and has a brake capacity of 400t and a pulling power of 250t. A heavy duty towing crucifix supports the sheet-metal covering of the winch room's back wall. The 384m² wood-sheated aft deck is fitted with offshore type cargo barriers. In front of the winch room two tugger winches with a pulling power of 10t are fitted, one each on starboard and port sides. They as well as the two capstans at the stern were provided by Kitagawa Kogyo too. In front of the stern roller (5,40m x 2,30m diameter) are two hydraulic vertical towing pins with 200t safe working load (SWL) and a hydraulically operated shark jaw with 300t SWL fitted. All were supplied by Plimsoll, manufactured to a Smith-Berger, Norway, licence.

Forecastle Deck:

It is completely surrounded by the hull and one winch room wall. Only to starboard and port sides of the winch room are small deck strips where three inflatable life rafts for 2 x 20 and 1 x 16 persons are mounted. Additionally at starboard two spare propeller blades are mounted. In the bow a large bosun's store is fitted. Behind it is the crew accommodation. There are five 4-bed cabins at the outside and one in the center of the deck. At starboard the hospital is situated behind two cabins. It has one bed and it's own sanitary space, a desk and lockers. The cabins have 2x 2 stacked beds, a settee, a desk, and four lockers. In the center is a common sanitary space.

Upper Forecastle Deck:

From port to starboard one single-bed cabin, two two-bed cabins with stacked beds, and another single-bed cabin are fitted. Behind an athwarth corridor another two-bed cabin is located at port and a conference and office room at starboard. Aft of these rooms the emergency generator room and a store are fitted. They are accessible from the aft part of the deck. The forecastle carries a Kitagawa Kogyo anchor winch with two gypsies and two warp heads, and the chain stoppers. Additionally a Smit-brackett is mounted. Two Plimsoll hydraulic slewing cranes are mounted at the aft end of the deck on either side. The port crane has a SWL of 8t at 7m outreach and of 1.5t at 9.5m to handle the m.o.b. boat. The starboard crane has a SWL of 8t at 7m outreach and handles the work boat. Both boats are rigid hull inflatables. Two small and one large storage winches are mounted between the cranes. The large one holds 1,500m x 76mm spare towing wire, the two small ones carry pennant wires. These winches are also from Kitagawa Kogyo.

Accomodation Deck:

Two single-bed suites for Captain and chief engineer are located at the foreward bulkhead of the superstructure. They consist of day cabin, bed room, and sanitary space. Behind a corridor two single-bed cabins with own sanitary space are fitted. In the center is a distribution board room.

Bridge Deck:

A steel-grid catwalk leads around the wheelhouse. The main control desk is mounted against it's foreward bulkhead. The desk contains beside the traditional wheel a joystick which can control rudder, main engines, and thrusters simultanously using the Lipstronic control system by Lips-Wärtsilä. At the aft bulkhead a second control desk overlooking the aft deck is fitted, additionally controlling the winches. At port is a radio station desk and at starboard a chart table. In the center of the room a communication desk and a work table are placed beside the staircase. Settees are fitted at both side bulkheads. The greater part of the navigation and communication equipment was provided by Furuno. Some exceptions are the gyro compass and the autopilot which are from Tokimec. The equipment contains among others two radar systems, DGPS navigation data recorder, AIS, and communication gear according to GMDSS area 3 standard including MF-, HF radio as well as Inmarsat C and F.

Wheelhouse Top:

It carries four search lights, the magnet compass, and the satellite communication antenna.

Monitor Platform:

The platform builds a bridge between the two stacks. It carries the mast and the two remote-controlled FFS-monitors.

Crew:

The tugs have a regular crew of 12 persons. Accommadation is available for 36 persons so that additional personnal can board according to the job requirements. The superstructure is fully air conditioned.

Operations: The tugs of the Fairmount class were employed mostly in towages of large objects since their commissioning. They performed the anchorhandling jobs where neccessary too. A selection of jobs is listed below:

FPSO DALIA (l x b = 300 x 60m, 334.000tdw) from Korea to Angola, West Africa

FPSO GREATER PLUTONIO (l x b 0 319 x 58m, 360.000tdw) from Korea to Luanda, Angola

50.000tdw semi-submersible barge GAVEA LIFTER with two jack-up rigs from Dubai to the Gulf of Mexico

50.000tdw semi-submersible barge GAVEA LIFTER with a jack-up rig from Dubai to the east coast of India

19.300t semi-submersible barge FAIRMOUNT FJELL with 11.000t top structure for AMP II from Malysia to Nigeria

Ssemi-submersible drilling platform FRONTIER DRILLER from Scottland to the Gulf of Mexico

Crane barge H-1000 from Ningbo, East China to Mumbai (Bombay), West Indian coast

Jack-up rig SEADRILL 6 from Singapore to Sakhalin (Russia), to Japan on 24.000tdw semi-submersible barge OCEAN SEAL, then on it's own keel. Later back to Japan.

24.000tdw semi-submersible barge OCEAN ORC with cargo from Japan to El Salvador.

Towing in the bulk carrier VOUTAKOS (l xb x td = 291,4 x 48 x 18m), loaded with 175,000t of coal, from the Western Approaches to Rotterdam after an engine black-out.