Svitzer to withdraw from deepsea towage

The company has stated, “Svitzer considers ocean towage to be outside its future strategy, focusing on harbour towage, terminal towage and salvage.”

The decision came as a surprise to many industry pundits, particularly in the light of the quite recent major upgrade programme carried out on the tugs London and Rotterdam. All three vessels are trading worldwide, carrying out a wide range of deepsea towage operations, including the movement of heavy weight tows such as jack-up and semi-submersible drilling rigs, heavy lift and submersible barges, giant floating offshore floating production and storage units (FSU &FPSO), floating docks, and ships of all sizes from ULCCs downwards.

Once listed as the most powerful of their kind, all three tugs were originally built for Smit and subsequently operated by SmitWijs and then taken over by Svitzer. The London and Rotterdam were completed in the Netherlands by the Merwede Shipyard at Hardinxveld in 1975 as the Smit London and Smit Rotterdam. The first of a new generation of deepsea tugs, the 74.83m LOA twin screw vessels were powered by Werkspoor 9TM 410 main engines rated at 13,500 bhp (total), giving the vessels a bollard pull of 167 tons and maximum speed of 15.5 knots.

Singapore is a later vessel built 1984 by the Royal Niestern Sander shipyard in the Netherlands as Smit Singapore. Almost identical in configuration, the 75.32m tug was fitted with engines of the same type and horsepower but producing a bollard pull of 189 tons and speed of 13 knots. Unlike its sister ships, Singapore was at some stage modified to facilitate anchorhandling operations over the stern.

In 2009/2010 Svitzer Ocean Towage carried out an important modernisation programme on all three vessels. The company’s aim was to improve fuel efficiency and performance and generally make the vessels more environmentally friendly. Their fixed propulsion nozzles were upgraded and the controllable pitch propellers rebuilt. All main and auxiliary engines were completely overhauled. The pneumatic propulsion control systems were replaced by a ‘Lipstronic’ electronic installation and two Konutherm thermal oil economisers were fitted in main engine exhaust uptakes. To make use of the extra energy, the electric oil heaters on all FO and LO purifiers were changed to thermal equipment. Also included in the programme was the installation of new broadband equipment allowing 24 hour internet access on board and a new electronic charting system.

All three vessels are elderly but thanks to their unique design and equipment continue to be competitive in the current long range towage market. London, Rotterdam and Singapore are being offered for sale through brokers Byron E Vernicos Shipping Enterprises SA. The guide prices published have been given as London – US$ 2.7m, Rotterdam – US$ 3.5m, and Singapore US$ 6m. Its is understood that the vessels will continue to trade and operate without any change for the time being.