Damen Marine Services hassold the Jersey tug Duke of Normandy , due to be replaced in a couple of months time by a new Shoalbuster. The existing tug, taken in part-exchange by Damen, was a single screw vessel of 565bhp, built at Poole in 1972.

Sinbad Marine ofKillybegs, Ireland is to be the new owner and delivery is due to take place in May.

Adsteam UK has renamed the ASD fire-fighting tug Gurrong inrecognition of the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Trafalgar in 2005. Now named Adsteam Victory the 64-tonne bollard pull tug will form part of the company's Medway operation and the fleet servicing the new BP/Sonatrach LNG contract at the Isle of Grain. The new name was selected from a number put forward by the local community, staff and crews to name the new Medway tugs scheduled to join the local fleet.

Adsteam Victory was renamed during a recent dry-docking, when it was also re-classed as a fire-fighting and escort tug as part of the refit process.

The tug Kintore of J P Knight (Caledonian) Ltd of Invergordon has been sold to operators in the Ukraine, renamed Hector , and is now in service in the Black Sea.

Built in Ostende in 1977 Kintore is a vessel of 35m in length, powered by a Wichmann 6AX main engine of 3960bhp, with a bollard pull of 40 tonnes. During its long career the tug has carried out a wide range of towing duties in Invergordon, coastal and deep-sea work, including a spell with an associate company in Surinam.