Boluda extends its presence in Zeebrugge

Zeebrugge is the seaport of Bruges and a maritime crossroads handling almost 46 million of tons of goods annually and as such requires the eight powerful shiphandling tugs this agreement allows for, while also opening the door to initiatives regarding sustainability.

The concession involves renewal of an existing partnership for a further five years, extendable for a single period of three years. The focus is on efficient, smooth and safe shiphandling operations and includes sustainability initiatives with the eight vessels described as ‘modern and powerful tugs which are all certified with the highest firefighting standards and will be manned by local crew’.

The headline feature of the new arrangement will be the arrival of two new 85tbp, IMO Tier III compliant Damen ASD 2813 tugs VB Bolero and VB Rumba currently under construction at Damen’s Vietnam shipyard and due for delivery by the end of this year.

Improvements to the current fleet is seeing the 2009 delivered twins Union Koala and Union Panda either soon to be or already retrofitted to IMO Tier III standards. They are Robert Allan Ltd-designed RAmparts 3200 vessels offering 65tbp and two of four similar tugs delivered by Dearsan Gemi Tuzla around the same time, the other two Union Grizzly and Union Kodiak are currently stationed at Antwerp with Boluda Towage Europe. Other tugs in the fleet in the Zeebrugge port region will also be retrofitted in the first two years of the contract.

The signing ceremony was held at the headquarters of the port authorities in Zeebrugge and in order to highlight the long-standing cooperation between Port of Zeebrugge and Boluda Towage, the latter presented the ship’s bell of the tug Brugge for permanent loan to the port, the bell was unveiled at the end of the ceremony. Brugge was the most powerful fire-fighting vessel when built in 1998 by Scheepswerft van Rupelmonde Belgium (a prolific tug building yard now closed) and was active in the port of Zeebrugge as a fire-guard vessel for LNG tankers until 2009. With the name Protey it is now operated by Russian principles in the Gulf of Finland region.

By Peter Barker