TOWLINES

When the Tarka 3, a Damen Shoalbuster 2709, was delivered to its owners Herman Sr BV in April 2010 it replaced an earlier, less powerful tug bearing the name Tarka which was in the process of being sold. Just one year later there is news that after a long spell working in Dubai the sale was finally confirmed and the vessel has arrived at its new home port in Australia. That earlier Tarka is a Shoalbuster 2609, of 2,200 bhp and 28.5 tons bollard pull, built in 2004. The tug completed the 5,500 mile delivery voyage from Dubai to Darwin under its own power in 27 days. The new owner is Offshore & Ocean Engineering of Botany, NSW, Australia.

The tractor tug Coatham Cross has been sold by Svitzer from its Tees UK fleet to the Fowey Harbour Commissioners. Built in 1981 by Richard Dunton at Hessle, the tug is 28.30m in length and powered by Ruston 6RK diesels of 2,640 bhp (total) and Schottel fully steerable propulsion units for a bollard pull of 35 tons. This latest addition to the Fowey fleet has been given the local name Cormilan and will replace the 47 year old single screw tug Tregeagle that has served the port since 1986 and is now being offered for sale. Cormilan will partner the Voith tractor Margawr (ex:Holmgarth), purchased from Svitzer in 2008. More powerful tugs became necessary in Fowey to deal with the increasing number of cruise ships using the port. When required, a tug from Fowey provides assistance in Plymouth and Falmouth. The sale was brokered by Michael Vincent and was the ninth tug disposed of with his assistance.

The European Tugowners Association (ETA) has elected Mr Richard Knight as chairman of the organisation for the next two years. Richard Knight is chairman of the UK based J.P.Knight Group, and former chairman and member of the Executive Committee of the British Tugowners Association. He succeeds Joerg Mainzer of Fairplay Towage in Hamburg. Torsten Holst Pedersen of Svitzer Scandinavia has been elected deputy chairman. The appointment was made at the recent 48th Annual General Meeting of the ETA held in Antalya, Turkey. The event attracted 120 participants, representing 15 European countries.

Humberside tugowner SMS Towage Ltd has acquired the Turkish built ASD tug Corvin from H Schramm & Sohn Schleppschifffahrt of Brunsbüttel, Germany. Built by Sanmar in 2007 to their ‘Ulupinar’ design, the 24.39m tug has a stern drive propulsion system powered by two Caterpillar 3512B TA main engines delivering a total of 3,300 bhp.The engines are coupled to a pair of Rolls-Royce US155 FP propulsion units to give the tug a bollard pull of 43 tons and a maximum speed of 12knots. On joining the SMS fleet on the Humber in April the tug has been renamed Scotsman. It is understood that the German owners have recently replaced the tug with another vessel from Sanmar of the same design.