ETA assesses the European towage sector

As part of the overall tapestry of the maritime transport industry, the contribution of the towage sector and its impact on the European economy has never been examined in detail before and the study, including an infographic, determines with precise figures relevant indicators never estimated before including the sector’s total turnover or cargo tons moved with tug assistance.

Other elements including the structure of the fleet are also examined in detail including where the European towage sector directly employs over 11,000 workers, 83% crew with the greater part of operators being local and 99% of employees EU nationals.

A more direct impact highlighting the sector’s economic relevance is where it has an annual revenue of over €1.2bn representing 3% of the European maritime transport market turnover. Within Europe, cargo moved amounts to 1.6bn tons, 80%-90% of which is assisted by tugs with total investments within the industry per year as an average over 10 years stated as €345m.

A breakdown of the investment figure covering 2010-2018 is presented with the greatest investment being just under €500m in 2010 and the lowest in 2013 at around €170m.

Examining the €1.2bn annual turnover figure, turnover per employee is €111,000 with the GVA (gross value added, value generated by any unit engaged in production and services) per employee put at €63,500 with the total GVA €1.45bn.

The number of tugs considered by the study is put at 1,595 with an average age of 25 years. A tug fleet age structure bar graph is provided, broken down into periods of 10 years with just under 450 vessels in the peak 2000-2010 period and just over 300 in the 2010-2020 bracket with around 270 in the period 1990-2000 as immediate comparisons.

Looking at vessel assistance the infographic considers 135,584 vessels in EU ports, 43% of which employed tug assistance compared to 58% without. Turning to employment (83% crew and 17% shore-based staff) employees per tug is stated as seven (5.7 per tug only crew) and an average of 86 employees per company.

The comprehensive study, including the infographic can be viewed at ETA’s website www.eurotugowners.com

By Peter Barker