Bulldog

This versatile work boat is helping the world’s largest bulk port ensure the ongoing reliability and efficiency of its harbour infrastructure and operations.

Pilbara Ports Authority (PPA) took delivery of Dongara Marine’s first Bulldog Class work boat in mid-2018. It primarily supports harbour maintenance duties within the Port of Port Hedland. However PPA also required it to be suitable for other roles, as its General Manager Engineering and Infrastructure Charles Kretzmann explained:

“It’s a multipurpose boat, so in addition to maintenance of the berths we use it in areas such as personnel transfer, to support water sampling for environmental monitoring, and, if required, search and rescue and oil spill response.”

The Bulldog Class provides the deck area, stability, and shallow draft attributes of the tried and tested ‘punt’ style hull but features modified forward sections to reduce resistance and improve head seas performance. The foredeck, however, provides significant work area and essentially square front that enables the boat to push up against structures without pivoting.

The boat’s cockpit comfortably seats four personnel, with the skipper standing aft behind a centreline console. A solid overhead canopy protects all personnel from the elements, but can be removed when work tasks require reduced air draft. Also removable is a cargo / equipment davit.

Off the water, aluminium’s reduced weight makes it far more practical and efficient to transport by road as well and launch and recover. This is important as the PPA needs to be able to use the new work boat in Dampier, which is approximately 260km from Port Hedland by road.

Dongara Marine is confident the Bulldog Class’s versatility will translate to success in other applications such as dive support, aquaculture, crew transfer, lines handling and other harbour roles.

You can read more about this multipurpose work vessel in our News section here.