Among the managements changes, Adsteam recently said goodbye to Mr Ken Marshall, Operations Director of Adsteam UK and well-known figure in the towage and shipbuilding industries. He retired after 46 years of service - including 17 years with Adsteam Marine and Howard Smith Towage.

Ken was Managing Director of Cochrane Shipbuilders, a yard responsible for many famous tugs and part of the North British Maritime Group acquired by Howard Smith in 1987 when they entered the UK towage market.

He left Cochrane Shipbuilders when it closed in 1993. He rejoined Howard Smith (UK) in October 1994 following his appointment as Director and Manager of The Alexandra Towing Company in Felixstowe and went on to become Operations Director for the UK in 1999.

At much the same time Adsteam announced the appointment of Gil Bray as UK General Manager, based at the UK headquarters in Hull. This new role, includes responsibility for all port operations, including continuing productivity and efficiency improvements, which are totally aligned with customer service levels across the UK business. Gil, who has over 15 years of service industry experience, joins the company from DHL Express where he was director of Nordic operations.

Other management changes include the creation of a single new management team to lead its existing operations at Gravesend and Medway and a new port manager at Southampton. The new Thames and Medway management structure is now headed by Derek Bell, with Medway port manager David Brown as his deputy. The team is working closely with the crews from both ports to develop an integrated service, which will maximise the flexibility and adaptability of the fleet in response to changes in customer requirements. In Southampton the new Adsteam port manager is Captain Kim Milnes, formerly of Cory Towage Ltd (the Ocean Group) and Cory Environmental Marine Division.

Late in November Adsteam confirmed their intention to reinforce various UK tug fleets substantially with a number of new vessels. Two Damen ASD 2411 tugs of 70 tonnes bollard pull, Adsteam Harty and Adsteam Warden, are already scheduled for the Medway fleet and will be in place early next year the support the new LNG contract. They will be very similar to Adsteam's most recent addition on the Humber Adsteam Ferriby.

In July 2006 further ASD 2411 the Adsteam Shotley will enter service at Felixstowe to handle the new generation of container vessels due to use the port and will release the Trimley, an ASD with 43-tonne bollard pull, to the Thames and Medway.

A real 'first' for Adsteam and the UK will be the arrival of a new 60 tonnes bollard pull Z-Tech for the Southampton fleet in September. The innovative Z-Tech design incorporates the best characteristics of both the tractor and ASD tug. Developed initially by Robert Allan Ltd, of Vancouver for the Port of Singapore (PSA) the design has proved remarkably popular.

Since its introduction a couple of years ago some twenty Z-Tech vessels have entered service, are under construction or are on the orders books are various yards.

The arrival of these new vessels will enable other tugs to be redeployed between Adsteam ports around the UK to improve utilisation and make the best possible use of existing vessels.

Commenting on the new vessels, Stephen Eastwood, CEO Europe said: "These four tugs will prove to be a great asset to our UK operation, increasing the overall power of the UK fleet by 10%. The investment demonstrates our commitment to developing a first-class fleet capable of responding to changes in the market-place and to delivering value to our customers' businesses."