On Thursday 2 April, Annebel de Deugd (interim manager fleet management of Nederlands Loodswezen), christened the new Dutch pilots’ tender Mira; one of the lightest tenders in the Nederlands Loodswezen fleet.
Lighter than ever
The instructions given by Nederlands Loodswezen to ship designer Camarc and shipbuilder Next Generation Shipyards had been clear: design and build a strong, waterjet driven, aluminium pilot tender that is much lighter than her predecessors. Mira weighs around 39 metric tons, whereas her predecessors weigh around 54 tons. Because of the lower weight, considerably less fuel is needed, which means the ship will emit less CO2 and soot. This makes her less harmful to the environment.
A class of its own
Mira - an M-class pilot tender - has the same hull as her L-class predecessors but is equipped with a so-called axe bow. This alone results in fuel savings of 3%. In addition, every single part of the ship’s design has been subject to careful examination to reduce weight as much as possible. Managing Director Willem Bentinck of Nederlands Loodswezen explained, "In total, Mira is about 15 tons lighter than her predecessors. This is equivalent to the weight of two adult elephants; you can imagine what a difference this weight loss makes in fuel consumption". The total fuel consumption of Mira is more than 20% lower than that of the L-class tenders, resulting in a significant reduction of CO2.
Movie off the Christening