Klyne Tugs (Lowestoft) Ltd have taken delivery of the second of their UT-719-T anchor-handling tugs from the Yantai Raffles Shipyard in China. Named Anglian Sovereign the 16,400hp vessel left China on the 26 May after successful trials. After bunkering and taking stores in Singapore the new vessel will make the long delivery passage to Britain.

With a bollard pull of over 180 tonnes and a free running speed of 17 knots the vessel will then join Klyne fleet of Emergency Towing Vessels operating under contract to the Maritime & Coastguard Agency .

West Coast Towing (Offshore) Ltd of Swansea has taken on charter the Voith tractor tug Tigrillo , which has been reflagged under British registry. Owned by Rimorchiatori Sicilliano srl ofPalermo, the tug was built in 1972 at the Marseillais 15, as a vessel of 264 gross tons and 2500bhp with a 32 tonne bollard pull. During the summer season Tigrillo was engaged, with the West Coast tug Capt I B Harvey and chartered Alce Nero , in tuna fishing operations in the Mediterranean.

Under an ongoing fleet restructuring programme Svitzer Wijsmuller reduced the tug fleet in the south Wales, Newport, Barry and Cardiff area to three vessels - Hallgarth, Holmgarth and Bargarth (ex; Forth). All three are versatile Voith tractors of 2190 bhp.

The single screw tug Emsgarth has been sold to Greek buyers for use in Morocco. As part of the same programme the chartered 4080bhp Italian tug Uran currently working at Avonmouth ( Maritime Journal issue May 2003) has been renamed Danegarth .

A further disposal is the Thunderer from the SvitzerWijsmuller Clyde fleet. This well-known tug was originally built in 1970 by James Lamont at Port Glasgow as the Warrior for Steel & Bennie Ltd . Renamed Thunderer in 1973, the vessel survived a number of take-overs and fleet re-organisations but spent almost all of her working life employed either in the Clyde or Belfast.

A single-screw tug of 272 gross tons and 38m in length, Thunderer is powered by a KHD diesel of 2400bhp.

The tug is reported sold to Blue Cloud Enterprises of Spain.