Pella Shipyard, located in the Leningrad region of Russia, has delivered two pusher type towboats to their Russian owner Best of Samara. These unusual 30.4m vessels are powered by two Cummins KTA38-M1 diesels producing 1,000 bhp each at 1,800 rev/min to drive Rolls-Royce model US155 propulsion units. This arrangement gives the tugs a 24 ton bollard pull and 13 knots free running. A hydraulic coupling is installed centrally between the push knees to aid barge handling. Accommodation is provided for a crew of eleven for the tug plus two for the barge.

A familiar Dutch vessel, the seagoing tug ‘Thomas de Gauwdief’, has been sold by Landfall Transport & Towage BV to a harbour and coastal towage company in Hyderabad, India. The tug left Rotterdam in February with two hopper barges in tow destined for the same Indian tug owners. The sale and delivery to the Indian port of Kakinada was carried out through Van der Kamp Shipsales.

The Shetland Islands Council has placed a £14m order with the Spanish shipbuilder Union Naval Valencia (UNV) for two new tugs for its Sullom Voe oil terminal operation. The new boats will be 40m long with a 14m beam and a normal operational draft of 6.5m. Each vessel will have twin Voith Schneider 36R6 255-2 propulsion units, each driven by a nine cylinder MAN B&W L27/38 engine with a maximum continuous rating of 3,285kw (total approximately 10,000 bhp). When delivered in the first quarter of 2010, the tugs will replace the three 25 year old tugs ‘Shalder’, ‘Tirrick’ and ‘Stanechakker’.