Bugsier (Bugsier, Reederei- und Bergungs-GmbH & Co), Hamburg; Fairplay (Fairplay Schleppdampfschiffs-Reederei Richard Borchard GmbH, Hamburg; T&S (T&S Transport & Service GmbH & Co. KG), Bremerhaven and URAG (Unterweser Reederei GmbH), Bremen.

The alliance was established when local maritime authorities tendered for Emergency Towing Vessels (ETVs) to be stationed in the German Baltic ports of Rostock and Kiel. The tender required strict contingency criteria, such as an equivalent replacement vessel within a few hours in the case of down-time, and was hence one of the main reasons the alliance was formed.

Bugsier, Fairplay, T&S and URAG together employ about 600 people for harbour and deep-sea towage and manage a fleet of about 50 tugs between 2,000-13,200bhp, with bollard pulls of 25-180 tonnes. Included in this fleet are 10 specially equipped 'fire-fighting tugs'.

These old-established tug-owners already have long lasting relationships and have been co-operating in various fields for many years.

In addition to nautical and technical staff, the ARGE-Kuestenschutz can rely on their own specialists such as salvage masters, oil pollution specialists, fire fighters, salvage divers, helicopter pilots and boatmen - all with a wide range of technical know-how.

The German government has maintained emergency towage capabilities in the North Sea for some years by chartering Bugsier's salvage tug Oceanic. Under the new arrangement the modern Azimuthing stern drive tug Fairplay-26 is now stationed in Rostock. This represents a first step by the German Ministry of Transport in also providing cover in the German Baltic. The charter of this tug started on 5 November 2001 and will run to April 2002 with an option for an extension. Fairplay-26 was delivered to Fairplay Hamburg in January 2001, she has a length overall of 35m, a beam of 11m and a max draft of 5.20m. Two Deutz main engines provide 5500bhp to produce a bollard pull of 65 tons. The tug is equipped with two Schottel propulsion units and a bowthruster. A firefighting system is installed to FiFi1-standards and produces 1350m 3/hr to each of two monitors.

In addition to the emergency tug, the ARGE Kuestenschutz also won the contract to supply a four-man boarding team.

This enables the organisation to respond quickly to emergencies by rapidly placing experienced nautical and technical people on board a ship in distress.

The teams train regularly in joint exercises involving the Fairplay-26 and helicopters in order to meet the requirement to be available within one hour of being alerted.