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Svitzer Enters Port of Montreal

Svitzer Enters Port of Montreal

gCaptain
Total Views: 86
April 11, 2016

Photo: MarineTraffic.com

Svitzer, the towage unit of A.P. Moller-Maersk, will be expanding in Canada as the company announced that it has established a harbor towage service in the Port of Montreal in response to customer demand customer demand

The company services will included shipdocking, escort and ice-breaking services.

Svitzer says it has mobilized two ice-class tugs to the Port of Montreal, Svitzer Nerthus and Svitzer Njal with a third tug arriving during mid-April. The tugs are 30m ASD tugs with 60tBP and 5000HP and were built at the East Isle Shipyard in Prince Edward Island in 2009. After five years of service in Scandinavia, the vessels were mobilized to Canada for Svitzer’s northern operation in Baffin Island. Svitzer will also be mobilizing additional tugs during the next 12 to 18 months providing full-year service in the St. Lawrence River.

“Canada is one of our key growth markets in the Americas and we have expanded our operation in the country during the past few years,” commented Martin Helweg, Managing Director of Svitzer Americas, on the significance of the entry into this new market. “Montreal represents a great opportunity for our continued expansion and we have experienced a strong demand from our local and global customer-base to provide services within the St. Lawrence River.”

Jakob Abrahamsen, General Manager, Svitzer Canada summarizes the importance of the entry into the primary container shipping hub in Central Canada. “Establishing our presence in the Port of Montreal is not only a key milestone for Svitzer Canada but as well for the overall harbour towage market in Canada. The feedback from our customers has been remarkable as they are demanding towage alternatives and we will continue focus our efforts on expanding our footprint wherever our customers request operationally reliable and commercially transparent harbour towage service,” Abrahamsen said.

In 2014, the Port of Montreal handled 1,402,393 TEUs (20-foot equivalent units), representing 12,575,069 tonnes of cargo. The Port also handled 9,246,741 tonnes of liquid bulk, and 8,433,434 tonnes of dry bulk, including 4,075,879 tonnes of grain. The total volume of goods handled in 2014 amounted to 30,445,984 million tonnes.

The Port has its own railway network directly dockside, connecting to two national rail networks and a highway system. The Port also operates a passenger terminal that welcomed 71,044 passengers and crew members in 2014. All other terminals are run by private stevedoring firms.

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