ASD 2810 tugs, image courtesy DAMEN

KOTUG will shortly be putting three Damen ASD 2810 tugs into operation. These tugs were ordered by Elizabeth Ltd in Malta and are being chartered by KOTUG, both part of the Kooren Maritime Services Group (KMS).  Two the tugs will be used in the port of Rotterdam and the third will see service in the port of Hamburg. It’s the first time that Damen Shipyards has built tugs for the KMS Group.

Damen Shipyards and KOTUG have built up a good relationship over the years. Ard-Jan Kooren, CEO of KOTUG, comments:

“We have long known Damen as a repair yard and now we know it as a shipyard as well. This is the first time that we have teamed up with Damen on a new build project. Damen has a top quality portfolio. We needed additional tugs quickly to replace a number of older tugs that we had sold and Damen had them in stock. Within two weeks, we had our tugs. The short delivery time and the quality were the key factors that persuaded us to invest in three tugs at the same time.”

R&D

KOTUG has offices in Rotterdam, Hamburg and Bremerhaven and is represented in the UK, Norway, Australia and Brazil. With a fleet of 30 tugs, KOTUG operates in a variety of markets, including tug work in port and at sea, and the salvage, offshore and dredging industries. Just like Damen, KOTUG has an ongoing R&D programm. The main result of this is the Rotor® Tug concept, based on a configuration of three propulsion units which create a high degree of maneuverability. In addition, KOTUG recently launched its E-KOTUG, the ‘RT Adriaan’, the world’s first hybrid Rotor® Tug.

See the Rotor® Tug promo video:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Damen Shipyards Galati

The three ASD 2810s, of which over 80 have now been built, are supplied from stock at Damen Shipyards Galati (Romania) and have been built in accordance with Damen’s standardized shipbuilding method. On delivery, the tug can be modified to meet the customer’s specific requirements. This way of working enables Damen Shipyards to guarantee a fast delivery without compromising on quality. Damen Services arranges transport from Galati to Rotterdam, where Damen hands over the tugs in a turnkey operation, in this case within two weeks from order confirmation.

One of Crowley's Invader-class tugs. Photo: Crowley

Salvage crews have successfully refloated the tug Invader over a week after it became partially submerged after the drydock housing it sank at Vigor’s Everett, WA yard.

Only light sheens of oil have been observed in the immediate area surrounding the tug and drydock and the estimated 60,000 gallons of diesel fuel remaining sealed onboard is expected to be removed this week.  The USCG says that the relocated tug and submerged drydock are still surrounded by multiple layers of containment boom.

The day-long effort to right the tug was led by West Coast Global Diving & Salvage, working on behalf of Vigor Marine, and was supervised by the U.S. Coast Guard and the Washington Dept. of Ecology to ensure only minimal environmental damage from the incident.

According to the Coast Guard statement following the incident, the 200-foot section of dry dock, with the tug in tow, began slowly sinking Saturday, March 17, and stopped only after making contact with the sea floor at approximately 12 p.m. Sunday.

The 140-foot Invader is part of Crowley’s Invader-class, a series of powerful, sleek and highly-praised tugs built between 1974 and 1977.

Photo of the carnage

Photo: USCG

A small disaster was recently avoided when the Seaward Marine towboat Miss Stacy got swept by the Piscataqua River current and drifted into the Memorial Bridge.

According to Seacost Online there were two people aboard the vessel named Miss Stacy when it began listing to its port side at about 2 p.m. Owned by Seaward Marine Corp. of Virginia, the boat was moving a barge beneath the bridge, which was being dismantled, when it got turned around by the current and became lodged underneath the span. Workers on the tugboat were rescued by people on another vessel before emergency crews arrived, said Assistant Portsmouth Fire Chief Steve Achilles.

The Miss Stacy was flooding due to damage on her hull and listing at a dangerous angle while the Eugenia Moran, a single-screw 2,875-hp vessel operated by Moran Towing, worked to free the vessel. Workboat tells us she was brought to safety at the docks of the local small cruise ship company Isles of Shoals Steamship and that the entire incident lasted about an hour..

Image courtesy Damen Shipyards

Recently, two Damen Stan Tugs 2608, the Ibrahim 1 and the Jacques, were shipped from the anchorage of Halong Bay, Haiphong (Vietnam) to Casablanca by the Atlantic Winter, an 800t lifting capacity HLV chartered by Danish Heavy Lift carrier Thorco from Reederei Heino Winter.

After having taken the necessary preparations and rigging of the lifting gear, both tugs were nicely loaded into their prepositioned cradles on deck in a two day operation.

STu 2608 Ibrahim Tugboat, image courtesy Damen

The tugs were ordered by JL Tug and Fedala Tug. Both are Moroccan, privately owned, maritime services companies that have long-time relationships with Damen Shipyards.

The Ibrahim 1 will be operated by JL Tug in the Port of Jorf Lasfar and the Jacques will be operated by Fedala Tug in the Port of Mohammedia.

Heavy Lift Vessel Details – MV Atlantic Winter

SMIT Tugs tow FPSO SSP Piranema. Photo: SMIT

SANTIAGO (Dow Jones)–Chilean shipping company Compania Sud Americana de Vapores SA’s (VAPORES.SN) logistics SAAM business and Dutch dredging and maritime services company Koninklijke Boskalis Westminster NV’s (BOKA.AE) SMIT unit signed a memorandum of understanding to join the units’ respective tugboat businesses.

Vapores, which has been weighed down by hefty ship and container leasing fees, falling transport prices, and rising international oil prices, is restructuring its business to face what it has called a deteriorating global scenario.

“Upon closing the joint venture, these companies would lead the market in the American continent, operating initially a fleet of 150 leading-technology tugboats,” said Vapores.

Vapores and Boskalis valued SAAM’s port tugboat business at $520 million and SMIT’s business at $470 million.

Earlier this year, as part of wider restructuring plans, shareholders of Vapores approved a $1.2 billion capital increase and agreed to a spinoff of SAAM. Vapores expects to spin off SAAM into a new company that will be listed on the Santiago Stock Exchange.

-By Anthony Esposito, Dow Jones Newswires