The vessel has been laid up in Norway since November 2003 and will leave shortly to join the Shanghai Offshore Petroleum Exploration & Development Corporation .

Norwegian tug owner Ostensjo Rederi A/S of Haugesund has ordered a second high-performance tanker-handling tug from the Spanish yard of Astilleros Gondan SA . The first vessel, Velox , is due for delivery at the end of the year. Both vessels will be sophisticated tanker-handling/ escort tug designed by Canadian naval architect Robert Allan Ltd in close co-operation with Ostensjo's technical consultant Carl J Amundsen . This second 37m vessel will be virtually identical to Velox but with her machinery up-rated to increase the static bollard pull from 65 to 70 tonnes. Both tugs will be fitted with the revolutionary Voith 'Turbo-Fin' designed to substantially increase the line pull while operating in the indirect, escort, mode. Delivery of the second tug is scheduled for the autumn of 2005.

Afon Alaw , the latest shallow draft tug to be built for the Holyhead Towing Company Ltd isalso on route to the Caspian Sea to work in developing offshore oilfields based at Baku. The 25.5m, 2600bhp, vessel will support a pipelaying barge under contract to Mc Dermott and is currently on route via the Black Sea.

The new twin-screw tug Dutch Partner ( Maritime Journal -August 2004) been chartered to operate in the Caspian Sea from a base in Bautino, Kazakhstan until the end of 2005, with a further two year option.

Dutch Partner owned by Rederi Englesman Towage & Salvage will join the company's other vessel Dutch Pearl and operate with other tugs of the same series Dutch Pride and Dutch Power owned by Marinus Hubrechtse and Dutch Pioneer owned by v/d Wees Transport . All five tugs will be engaged in the construction of artificial islands, pipelaying and anchor-handling operations.

Klyne Tugs (Lowestoft) Ltd hasannounced a number of staff changes. Keith Ashby, their Superintendant Engineer for the past 18 years formally retired on Monday 25 October. Keith has been actively involved in many salvage and recovery contracts as well as the construction of four new vessels for the Klyne fleet.

He has been replaced by his assistant for the past 10 years - Lee Bullen, . Klyne's Safety Manager Martin Collins, who joined the company in January of this year, has also left to resume his career at sea. Chief Officer Alan Hugman, will take over responsibility for safety management and HSE matters.

Fairplay XIV one of two long-range deepsea tugs from the fleet of Fairplay Towage ofHamburg left Britain with the submarine Oracle in tow, bound for shipbreakers in Turkey on 30 October. The tug arrived in Portsmouth to collect the vessel from Pounds Shipbreakers andremained for several days while the tow was prepared for sea.

The derelict submarine, formerly HMS Oracle , had been laid up at Pounds yard for many years.