A resounding success for ITS in Barcelona

This was the first event to be held since ITS and its supporting magazine, ‘International Tug & OSV – incorporating Salvage News’, was expanded to include the Offshore Service Vessel industry. But those regularly attending ITS Conventions had nothing to fear, the event retained the same well proven format and lost none of its traditional atmosphere or popularity.

ITS 2012 was held in the CCIB Barcelona International Convention Centre, a massive complex on the eastern fringe of the city and one of the few venues large enough to house the constantly growing event. A total of 426 delegates attended the conference from 45 countries, representing every aspect of the towage, salvage and offshore industry. The exhibition was the largest ever staged, with 178 stands representing equipment manufacturers, specialist shipbuilders, designers and operators, from all three sectors.

In spite of the continuing uncertain economic picture, this prestigious and important forum was buzzing with activity and the organisers reported substantial numbers of visitors arriving and registering ‘at the door’. With the exhibition open throughout the conference proceedings and sometimes longer, exhibition staff and visitors increased the numbers attending by a further 966.

The conference sessions were once again chaired by ITS veteran Michael Allen, who shared some of the responsibility with Dawn Gorman, the editor of ‘International Tug & OSV – incorporating Salvage News’. A programme of 24 papers was put before the delegates, covering a wide range of topical subjects.

ITS 2012 was opened by Mr Allan Brunton Reed, who welcomed the delegates and introduced the keynote speaker, Sixte Cambra, the current chaiman of the Barcelona Port Authority. Mr Cambra, who has a management background, welcomed ITS 2012 to Barcelona and recognised the important part played by the towage industry in port operations.

The keynote speech was followed by a paper entitled ‘The Challenges Facing the Salvage Industry’, presented by Andreas Tsavliris, current president of the International Salvage Union. He covered in some detail the commercial pressures and unpredictable nature of such a highly capital intensive business, going on the speak about the relations with authorities ashore, including the use of ETVs, criminalisation and modern piracy. Also mentioned in the paper is the recent revision of Lloyds Open Form (LOF) and ‘The Challenge of Salvaging Mega ships’, such as the latest generation of container ships or the Costa Concordia.

The next paper in the programme was, ‘ Emergency Towing Vessels (ETVs) – Necessary or Not’ by Captain David Pockett, of London consultants, Brazil. This presentation was a timely and appropriate reminder of the issues involved and went on to describe the growing catalogue of ETVs in service and being built for use around the world. A formidable list was included of incidents or potential casualties where there was a perceived threat of marine pollution and ETVs have been tasked.

Among the salvage related presentations was ‘Technology Transfer – Taking ‘Goal-based’ design from the salvage industry to the oil and gas sector’. The paper was presented by Moya Crawford of Deep Tek Ltd UK, a regular speaker at ITS who has frequently described the trials and tribulations of developing specialist equipment to carry out salvage and cargo recovery operations in water depths of around 3,000m. It gave many delegates some pleasure to hear how this very small man and wife run company is now seeing a major breakthrough, with the acceptance of their technology and design work being adopted for use by the offshore oil and gas industries, with the rewards that go with it.

With the growing current interest in ‘Green Technology’ and the need for more energy efficient tugs, it was inevitable that the subject would be well aired. Two representatives from the classification society DNV, Bjorn-Johan Vartdal and Arnstein Eknes, presented ‘Hybrid Systems – Aiming for a better future’. DNV is engaged in a number of hybrid projects for several vessel types and the presentation outlined lessons learned and best practice on how to handle such systems, from concept, through design, testing and operation.

Paul Jamer and John Eldridge for Aspin Kemp & Associates described in some detail the ‘Conversion of Kotug’s RT Adriaan to become Europe’s First Hybrid Tugboat’. Their company has worked on the world’s first two hybrids for Foss in the USA and those projects inspired Kotug to carry out this highly successful conversion.

Among the tug design papers was a contribution by Robert Allan and Todd Barber of Robert Allan Ltd and Jan van Kasteren of KSV BV, described in detail the development of ‘The ART 85-35 Class Offshore Support Rotor Tug Fleet for Port Hedland Australia’. Robert Allan Ltd (RAL) carried out extensive development work on this sophisticated new design that will go into production very shortly to produce a substantial number of tugs for use at Port Hedland. Leading on from that arrangement came the formal announcement that RAL andKST BV have signed a ‘Cooperative Agreementfor Future Rotor Tug Development’ (MJ – Towlines June 2012)

Considerable interest was shown in the paper by Baldo Dielen and Walther van Gruijthuijsen, partners in the Eddy Tug design. The pair offers a double ended tug with azimuthing propulsion units that simultaneously offers improved safety, performance and economy, and overall emissions are reduced by lower fuel consumption.

Accidents caused by Girting/Tripping continue to happen on rivers, in ports and at sea. A paper by Capt George Livingstone and Capt Grant Livingstone, pilots from San Francisco Bar and Long Beach respectively, presented a graphic account of some tripping incidents, with the purpose of sharing with the audience the very real dangers of tripping and to provide a minimum of critical tools needed to avoid tripping situations.

A traditional feature of the convention is a number of well organised social events. This occasion in Barcelona was no exception. ITS 2012 opened with a Welcome Cocktail Party sponsored and orchestrated by Damen Shipyards. This lavish event was held in Port Forum Marina, a location very close the conference centre, and was centred around an extensive marketing campaign targeting the newly designed Damen ASD Tug 3212 that was to continue for the entire convention. One of the first examples of this new shiphandling and terminal tug design, the Multratug 19, was moored in the marina within just a few metres of the Welcome event and open for inspection. A paper was presented in the conference programme and during the following days interested parties were able to make trial trips on the vessel by appointment.

With its large numbers of stands and representatives available, the exhibition area became a popular meeting place during breaks in the conference programme. Tea and coffee breaks were sponsored by MTU diesels and lunches each day by the specialist shipbuilders Uzmar. There was a great deal of activity in the exhibition area and undoubtedly a great deal of business carried out.

A number of other sponsored social events were organised throughout the week, culminating in the traditional Gala Dinner, held in the CCIB Convention Centre. A very large number of guests and partners enjoyed an excellent meal and traditional Spanish entertainment.

A tour of the Barcelona waterfront and lunch was organised for the morning after the convention, sponsored by the Shipowners Club. Unfortunately the trip did not include entering the port, but Multratug 19 provided a lengthy and spectacular display to entertain the passengers. Sadly, it was the only tug in evidence. ITS2012 was finally concluded with a Farewell Party hosted by the local towage and salvage companies Remolcadores de Barcelona and Sar Remolcadores.

By Jack Gaston