The tug fleet was configured to ensure the safe and reliable passage of tankers exporting Liquified Natural Gas and other petroleum products from Melkøya, an onshore LNG plant and terminal linked to Statoil’s Snøhvit offshore gas field in the Barents Sea.

At the heart of the Hammerfest fleet is the fin first Voith escort tug 'Boris', the latest in a series of sophisticated escort tugs developed by Bukser og Bergings by their own technical staff. The 40.5m tug is powered by two Deutz SBV 16M 628 main engines generating a total of 9,729 bhp to drive a pair of Voith Schneider six blade propellers, each with a blade orbit of 3.6m. This arrangement gives the tug a static bollard pull of 95 tons and a maximum line pull of 160 tons at 10 knots.

Boris is supported at Hammerfest by the 'Banak' and 'Barentz', two purpose designed azimuthing stern drive (ASD) tugs of 37m in length. The sister tugs each have Deutz main engines producing a total of 5,630 bhp, giving them a 72 tons bollard pull and a line pull of 80 tons in the indirect mode. A ‘pumpjet’ type bow thruster is fitted to enhance manoeuvrability.

All three tugs are winterised for year round operation and carry full DNV class notation for Ice Class C, escort duties, oil recovery and fire fighting to FiFi1 standard. Mooring at the terminal is carried out by the line handling tugs 'Birk' and 'Bork', 12.3m vessels of 450 bhp and five tons bollard pull.

Bukser og Bergings continue to pursue a policy of steady and virtually continuous fleet enhancement. Five significant new tugs and two workboats have been added to their inventory during the past two years to fulfil new contracts and strengthen their position in terminal towage and elsewhere in the market. The company is well known for its innovative approach to tug design and construction and this is reflected in recent newbuildings.

The company has also taken delivery of the new tug 'BB Worker' in 2007 and 'BB Server' is due in 2008. Identical in basic design to the ASD tugs at Hammerfest, they have machinery to produce bollard pulls of 90 and 75 tons respectively. Both tugs will be based in Stavanger and employed primarily in the offshore oil/gas industry. A further vessel, the 'BB Ocean', a Voith tractor of 75 tons bollard pull built originally for Italian operators in 2006, will be used in much the same way. The building programme is set to continue with a further pair of 32m ASDs of 65 tons bollard pull due in 2008.These will be Robert Allan Ramparts 3000 class vessels, the first to be ordered by the firm to a design not conceived by their own naval architects.