TOWLINES
SMITWIJS has been contracted to tow the cruise ship Norway from Bremerhaven in Germany to breakers in the Far East – possibly India or Malaysia. The task of towing the 76,049gt liner around the Cape of Good Hope is to be carried out by the Chinese tug De Da , a unit of the Global Towage Alliance with a bollard pull of 221 tonnes. Norway has been laid up in Bremerhaven since July 2003 following a boiler explosion in Miami earlier the same year.
Adsteam Towage has transferred the large Australian built ASD tug Redcliffe from their fleet on the Thames to Humberside as part of an ongoing fleet redeployment programme. The 4800bhp vessel, to be renamed Adsteam Keelby , has a bollard pull of 61 tonnes and is now based at Immingham.
The Australian government are to fund arrangements for emergency towage and Search and Rescue provision. The government has invited applications for funding assistance ‘from businesses able to contribute suitable vessels and crew to maintain or enhance the maritime emergency towage capability available for commercial shipping around the Australian coastline’. Based on an application deadline of 25 May, the arrangements, when agreed, will last from now until early 2006, ‘pending finalisation of a long-term approach’.
Details released in a federal budget statement reveal that funding will be made available on the basis of a competitive tender. In the same statement, the government has agreed to provide Adsteam Marine with up to A$2M ($1.5M) in 2004-05 to maintain its current Australian maritime salvage capability and services.
Cory Environmental , one of the UK’s leading waste management companies and well know for its tug and barge operations on the Thames, has been acquired by Montagu Private Equity from Exel plc for £200m. Around 15% of London’s waste is transferred by barge, removing 100,000 lorry movements per year from London’s roads. Montagu is keen to back management buy-out deals for non-core businesses led by highly regarded management teams. Cory’s Executive Chairman, David Riddle, said: ‘It is very much a case of business as usual. We will honour all our current contracts and continue to seek out new opportunities to grow and develop our business.’
Lerwick Port Authority hasplaced an order for a new pilot boat/tug designed to help handle the increasing number of larger ships now using the Shetland port.
A contract, valued at approximately £1.8m, has been signed with the Vestvaerftet Shipyard , of Hvide Sande, Denmark, with delivery scheduled for April next year.
The new 20m vessel, which replaces the 18.8m Knab built in Norway in 1980, will have a bollard pull of 24 tonnes
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