SvitzerWijsmuller Win Major Milford Haven LNG Contracts

01 Feb 2007

Towage services in the UK port of Milford Haven will be transformed with a fleet of nine powerful new tugs and six line handling vessels to be introduced bySvitzer Marine Ltd .  

More New ETVs for the Spanish Coast

01 Feb 2007

The first of two coastal protection vessels has been handed over to Spain’s Maritime Safety Authority SASEMAR. Named Don Inda, the vessel’s primary role is that of an emergency towing vessel (ETV) for tankers of unlimited size under adverse conditions. A bollard pull of about 220 tons makes these vessels the most powerful ETVs in Europe when it comes to towing. In a worse case scenario where oil pollution has occurred, the tug is equipped with a full range of equipment for oil recovery and clean-up operations.  

JP Knight Go Shopping in Japan

01 Feb 2007

JP Knight (Caledonian) Ltd,; the Scottish branch of JP Knight Ltd based at Invergordon, has returned to Japan to replace the Japanese built tugs Kinnaird and Kincardine, which were sold in November 2006. The result of their negotiations is the purchase of two modern Japanese built tugs for almost immediate delivery and two more that will be available later in 2007.  The company has had a long association with the Japanese towage industry and was responsible for introducing the first Niigata powered ASD tug to Europe in 1981. Named Kinross, this first vessel is still in service at Invergordon but has been joined in the UK by many more recent tugs from the same stable.  

Competition Commission Reports on Svitzer-Adsteam Takeover

01 Feb 2007

On 9 February the Competition Commission (CC) published its final report on SvitzerWijsmuller’s proposed takeover of Adsteam Marine Ltd. In the report the Commission will require SvitzerWijsmuller A/S to sell off one of the harbour towage operations in Liverpool if it goes ahead with the anticipated acquisition of Adsteam Marine Ltd. The CC has decided that the acquisition may be expected to result in a substantial lessening of competition for towage services in Liverpool, although it has not identified similar problems anywhere else in the UK. This confirms the provisional findings published in December last year.  

TOWLINES

01 Feb 2007

Hamburg based offshore and transportation company Harms Bergung has sold their 7,230 bhp  anchor-handling tug’ Varius (ex Lady Laura) to an un-named Greek buyer. It has also been reported that Harms has also sold the three newly built offshore supply vessels Aeolus, Cerberus, and Centaurus to Nordcapital. The German company recently took delivery of the new anchor handler Magnus (Maritime Journal Oct 2006) and has a sister ship and two larger 220 tons bollard pull vessels due for completion this year, and two of 280 tons scheduled for 2008.