Even after 32 years the bi-annual event continues to evolve and now has an atmosphere all of it's own.

Much of that is due to the efforts of organiser Allan Brunton-Reed, the increasingly popular International Tug & Salvage magazine and the recently formed ITS Club.

At this latest event the indoor exhibition alone contained almost one hundred stands, occupied by towage and salvage companies, shipbuilders, naval architects, equipment manufacturers and many other associated companies.

Once again, Michael Allen a partner at Curtis Davis Garrard, UK, ably presided over the main conference proceedings.

Twenty-one papers were presented under his chairmanship and a 'Technical Workshop' comprising a further six papers ran in parallel on the morning of the second day. The latter was chaired by Andy Smith, editor of International Tug & Salvage, and covered a variety of technically oriented subjects, whilst salvage and legal matters were being discussed in the main hall.

Mr Bob Alario, President of the Offshore Marine Association, a long term supporter of ITS conferences, formally opened proceedings and the 'Inaugural Paper' was given by Mr Joop Timmermans, President of the International Salvage Union (ISU). The ISU is approaching its 50th anniversary and he outlined the progress made and the serious issues concerning its members from 29 countries. He confirmed a steady decline in the demand for salvage but reinforced the need to continue the fight for satisfactory remuneration for salvors in order that a viable industry remains in place to deal with maritime emergencies.

Captain Max Newman of the Panama Canal Authority gave an interesting account of the history of tug services supporting the operation and maintenance of the Panama Canal, highlighting the way that the present tug fleet has evolved. This was followed immediately by a presentation by Captain Peter Lee on the development of the new Z-Tech shiphandling tugs commissioned by his organisation - the Port of Singapore Authority. Designed by Canadian naval architect Robert Allan, the unique Z-Tech design was much in evidence in the conference and exhibition.

Engineer Ken Hartford of Robert Allan Ltd addressed the subject of 'Noise and Vibration Control on Diesel Tugs'.

This topic included new approaches to reducing 'drive line' vibration in azimuthing stern drive tugs (ASD) and reducing noise levels throughout the vessels in order to meet increasingly stringent regulatory requirements and improve habitability in the new generations of powerful but compact vessels.

Among the other technical subjects addressed by the conference were the installation of external fire fighting systems, modulated slipping clutches, high performance electric towing winches, box coolers, medium speed engine development, and box coolers. The latest developments in Voith Schneider propulsion systems was described to delegates by Dr Jen Erk Bartels of Voith Turbo and the application of thrusters was covered by Alan Novotny of Rolls Royce.

Two subjects that stimulated much interest at the previous ITS Conference in Bilbao were that of bollard pull measurement and the development of a new compact ASD tug design by Damen Shipyards. Both were revisited with some enthusiasm.

Mr John Noble of BMT Salvage Ltd presented a 'no-nonsense' paper on the former entitled 'Bollard Pull - Fact of Fiction - How the Experts Determine Bollard Pull'. He outlined a practical approach to the subject as applied by surveyors when determining the bollard pull required for a specific tow.

Damen were responding to a promise made in Bilbao to return with the results of trials recently completed with the first tug built to their ASD 2411 design.

Included in the paper was a comprehensive description of the construction of this first vessel in their Changde Shipyard in China.

Subjects related to salvage and maritime law were by no means ignored. The thorny subject of 'Ports of Refuge - A Safe Harbour after Prestige' was addressed by Mr Mark Cohen of Cohen, Gorman & Putnam, USA. His comprehensive paper contained a number of case studies and included 'Guidelines on places of refuge for ships in need of assistance' tabled at the IMO.

The Prestige incident was also at the heart of a paper by Faz Peermohamed of Ince & Co UK and the related subject 'Legislating in the Face of Oil Pollution' was the title of a paper by Ignacio de Ros, of Spanish law firm Ignacio de Ros Maritime Advocates. Among the remaining papers subjects were as diverse as; dealing with marine pollution, underwater oil recovery, ATB tug and barge systems and the financial management of towage companies.

The conference closed with a forum entitled; 'The Future of the Towage and Salvage Industry'.

A panel of ten experts, headed by Chairman Arnold Witte gave their views on several diverse aspects of the towage and salvage business prior to throwing the subject open to debate from the floor. Providing an interesting perspective from the US were a number of officers from the US Navy and US Coastguard recently involved in dealing with the collision between the Lee III and the Zim Mexico that closed the Mississippi river for five days.

The resulting discussion brought to light many interesting factors involving the need for an effective salvage service, the management of serious incidents, and the whole question of port vulnerability to closure by accidents or acts of terrorism.

Bound copies of the whole proceedings will eventually be available from; The ABR Co Ltd.

Telephone; +44 1225 868821 Fax: +44 1225 868831.