TOWLINES
Among a number of the recent high profile tows carried out recently by Fairmount Marine of Rotterdam was the delivery of the 156,907 dwt container ship Emma Maersk from the Suez Canal Container Terminal in Egypt to Fincantieri’s repair yard in Palermo, Sicily. The 398m long Emma Maersk was disabled by serious flooding in the engine room. Fairmount Alpine, one of the company’s 205 tonnes bollard pull deepsea tugs, was in the eastern Mediterranean and took the ship in tow in Port Said on 17 February and completed the1,276 miles voyage to Palermo on 25 February.
The former naval ‘Dog class’ tugs Juliette Pride I (ex: Sheepdog) and Juliette Pride II (ex: Husky) sailed from the Cornish port of Newlyn in Cornwall on 3 March in contravention of a Maritime & Coastguard Agency (MCA) detention order. Julitte Pride I arrived in Cornwall in December 2012 and shortly afterwards Juliette II limped into Douglas, Isle of Man, with machinery problems, finally sailing for Newlyn in February. These were the last two ‘Dog’ class tugs originally built for the Royal Maritime Auxiliary Service (RMAS) and sold by Serco, the current contractor for Marine Services to Ministry of Defence (Navy), to Akoto Ventures of Nigeria – MJ October 2012. Sailing under the Tanzanian flag, the pair are believed to be on route to West Africa.
The ABR Company has published ‘Tug & Offshore Annual Review 2012’. This latest edition of the popular annual features detailed reviews, photographs and G/A drawings of 38 tugs and offshore service vessels of all shapes and sizes from all over the world built during 2012. A well established publication it provides a global overview of current vessel designs being introduced in the booming and fast changing towage and offshore sector of the shipping industry. For ordering information contact: The ABR Company; Bradford on Avon, UK; Web: www.tugandosv.com
All three of the remaining oceangoing tugs from the fleet of Svitzer Ocean Towage, London, Rotterdam and Singapore, have now been sold. The company announced its intention to withdraw from that sector of the market in September 2012 – MJ Sept 2012. Singapore has been sold to GMS (Global Marketing Systems) and is now under the full management of the Tsavliris Salvage group, renamed Global Success I. Sister ships London and Rotterdam have also been sold to Greek interests and renamed Global Change and Global Destiny respectively. All three are tugs of 74.8m in length and 13,500 bhp and started life as part of the Smit International fleet.
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