Cyathea is not only traveling halfway around the world, but is itself truly international, having been designed by Canadian marine architect Robert Allan, built by Turkish shipyard Bogazici, and soon to be operated by French shipping company SORA, a subsidiary of Compagnie Maritime Chambon in New Caledonia, a French overseas territory. The Rolls-Royce subsidiary mtu Singapore and Australian distributor Penske Power Systems will provide regular service, ensuring the tugboat runs smoothly in its new South Sea paradise.
“The great success was gained by working as one team in a 360-degree approach; subsidiaries, headquarter, shipyard, and operators - this is our key success criteria, I believe", Ali Guzel, Managing Director of mtu Turkey, says. "We are proud to work together with Bogazici Shipyard and look forward to continuing our successful collaboration.”
“Cyathea is a prime example of how global collaboration works,” said Andreas Müller-Hirlinger from the Sales unit responsible for tugs and workboats at Rolls-Royce's Power Systems division. “Drawing on our international network, we've established a team that is spread around the globe: mtu France made the initial contact with end user Chambon at a maritime conference in Marseille. Shortly afterwards, our colleagues in Turkey visited the Bogazici Shipyard where Chambon wanted to have the tug built, and in the end we succeeded in convincing them of our merits because we are able to provide local service in far-flung Nouméa through our partner in Australia.”
In contrast to Phileas Fogg, who returned after his trip around the world, Cyathea is to remain at her destination. Upon arrival at the port of Nouméa, the capital of New Caledonia, she will take up her duties, performing the tasks normally expected of a tugboat, and using her bollard pull capacity of 54 metric tons to manage port traffic. She still has a few nautical miles to go to get there, and we wish her a good passage!
By the way - find out here where Cyathea is currently located: https://bit.ly/2Uj7DnE
