Fairplay Towage of Hamburg and Smit Internationale NV Overseas BV , of Rotterdam have formed a 50/50 Joint Venture to own Antwerp based Unie van Redding- en Sleepdienst (URS).

SMIT and Fairplay have agreed that URS will continue to operate as an autonomous company, and that it will retain its own name and identity. URS currently operates in Antwerp, Ghent/ Terneuzen, Flushing, Zeebrugge and Ostend and is active in deepsea and offshore markets. Fairplay is one of Germany's leading towage companies, operating in German and other European ports and also operates offshore and deepsea services.

Klyne Tugs (Lowestoft) Ltd hasannounced the appointment of Mr Martin Collins to their management team in Lowestoft.

He will be involved initially in ISM and ISPS matters as deputy to Director Mrs Waveney Ley but will also participate in other aspects of the business.

Mr Collins has considerable seagoing experience with OIL , Tidewater and latterly Maersk where he was recently promoted to Chief Officer. He has also served as deputy to the fleet HSEQ manager with Maersk in London.

It is with great sadness that we report the death in December 2003 of Mr Allan Kerr, a well-known figure from the UK towage scene. Having spent most of his working life in shipping and the towage industry his last appointment was as Managing Director of Tees Towing Ltd . He will be remembered also as General manager of the Grangemouth and Forth Towing Company and one time Chairman of the British Tugowners Association . Allan had been retired for some years and died in hospital in Yorkshire, aged 69.

The anchor-handling tug Lady Laura , owned by Classic Marine and managed by Klyne Tugs , has been sold to German operators Harms Bergung Transport and Heavylift GmbH & Co of Hamburg.

Lady Laura was a vessel of 39.29m in length, powered by two Alco diesels producing a total of 7230bhp and a bollard pull of 100 tonnes. The tug left Lowestoft for the last time in December 20003 bearing the new name Varius .