Bugsier Takeover Transport & Service
The tugs of Transport & Service will loose their distinctive orange livery.
Hamburg based Bugsier Reederei und Bergungs Gmbh & Co has now completely taken over the towage business of Transport & Service (T& S) of Bremerhaven - formerly Hapag Lloyd .Bugsier purchased an 80% holding in T& S in 1994 and has now acquired the remaining 20% equity from Unterweser Reederei AG (URAG).
Bugsier are expected to close the T&S headquarters in Bremerhaven, combine much of the management with their other towage services, and maintain a smaller branch office. Only a few days before the announcement of this latest deal, URAG took over the two-tug fleet of Rhenus Midgard ( Maritime Journal - Towlines , August 2004 issue).
This latest move reduces the local 'tug-pool' operating on the Weser and competing with Dutch rival Kotug to just URAG and Bugsier.
With the addition of the T&S vessels, Bugsier now has a combined fleet of 22 harbour tugs and seagoing vessels operating in the Elbe, Weser and Jade areas. A new 30.45m shiphandling tug is currently under construction in the Netherlands at the shipyard of K Damen for delivery in 2005.
The design follows closely that of earlier Bugsier tractor tugs and will embody two fully steerable azimuthing propulsion units mounted beneath the forward portion of the hull.
Main engines of 4,050kW will be fitted to achieve a bollard pull of 65 tonnes.
Included among the seagoing vessels is the ocean-going salvage tug Oceanic , the sole survivor from the once famous Bugsier deepsea fleet. The 13,200bhp vessel, with it's 179 tonnes bollard pull is currently engaged as an Emergency Towing Vessel on charter to the German government, as part of the Arge Kuestenschutz ('Joint Venture for Coastal Protection') consortium. The company recently sold the floating crane Roland to a buyer in the Far East but retains the Enak , a self-propelled salvage crane with a maximum lifting capacity of 850 tonnes.
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