Bugsier orders its first Damen tug

When thinking of the many famous and well known tug companies that operate globally one of the oldest, with a rich vein of history is Bugsier. Delivery of the new tug, to be named Bugsier 22, is scheduled for 2016 which will also be the company’s 150^th anniversary year, the tug being built as Damen Shipyards’ Sharjah facility.

Bugsier’s operations cover a wide-ranging sphere of activities and are not restricted to harbour towage. Offshore and deepsea towage, floating crane services, pontoon transport, mooring services, marine environmental protection and offshore wind energy services are all part of their operating portfolio. They have a long history in the world of marine salvage and were a founding member of ARGE Küstenschutz, the organisation set up to provide protection to the German coastline including provision of four strategically located ETVs. Bugsier’s contribution to the scheme is the impressive 201tbp multi-purpose tug Nordic.

Over the years they have built up a diverse fleet including around 30 tugs, five pontoons and various other smaller craft, all capable of various roles achieving a high degree of utilisation and this recent order is notable in that it marks an alternative approach, or as Sven Schroeder, Bugsier Business Development Manager puts it: “… in an effort to decrease our daily balancing act of what tug to assign to which job and strengthen our port operation, we decided to order a standard harbour tug.”

The requirement was for a short delivery timescale so Damen became an obvious choice with their build-for-stock approach to tug production. They have also previously delivered four similar ASD 2411 tugs to German owners, Prompt, Brake and Perfect for URAG and the Peter for Petersen & Alpers.

“Value for money” was described by Mr Schroeder as one of the determining factors in the order, adding: “We were on the lookout for a swift fleet addition for harbour towage and, from our point of view, the Damen ASD 2411 is a logical addition to our fleet of highly sophisticated and manoeuvrable vessels and meets all our requirements.”

Bugsier 22 will incorporate a state-of-the-art hull and skeg design and include recent developments in fender, fairlead and winch design and the now standard excellent sea-keeping features and towing characteristics. It will comply with Bugsier’s particular requirements and as such be a 98% standard model with minor modifications and specific German flag requirements. With around 90 examples of the ASD 2411 tug having now been delivered globally Bugsier are assured of having a reliable and proven new addition to their fleet.

By Peter Barker