Resolving to expand

Resolve Marine have their corporate headquarters in Fort Lauderdale USA but operate on a global basis with offices and facilities in Europe, Singapore, Shanghai, Dutch Harbor Alaska and India. The former includes a presence in London and Cork and it is in the European region they have enhanced their position with acquisition of SteelMac Ltd, a Gibraltar-based diving, salvage and marine services provider, and T.P. Towage, the only provider of harbour towage in and around the Port of Gibraltar.

Resolve state that Gibraltar’s “strategic location, stable modern governance and thriving economy” were some of the benefits identified in deciding to invest in the two companies. With their base in the USA Resolve Marine naturally have a notable presence there but the strategic expansion into Gibraltar builds on the commitment to continued growth of their emergency response capabilities in Europe and Africa.

Resolve’s acquisition of SteelMac will place the valuable elements of local knowledge and contacts at their disposal. SteelMac offer a wide range of maritime support services including: emergency response; diving and ROV services; oil pollution response; marine/cargo surveying; waste handling and plant hire.

Resolve have an extensive fleet of tugs, sheerlegs, deck barges and smaller support vessels. Of particular interest here are the anchor-handling tugs Resolve Earl and Resolve Blizzard, two of a series of four similar vessels originally built for Maersk Supplyships. Another more recent addition also of interest is the Resolve Monarch, another anchor-handler which, under previous ownership spent several years chartered to the UK Maritime & Coastguard Agency as one of four ETVs. The Resolve Earl carried out a similar role also under a different name during its time with Klyne Tugs and JP Knight Towage. The 144tbp Resolve Blizzard is now stationed in Gibraltar to provide firefighting, oil pollution and emergency response services across the Mediterranean, African and European regions.

T.P. Towage was formed in 1998 having been operational in Gibraltar for more than twenty years, previously as Howard Smith Towage and its predecessor Alexandra Towing Co. Gibraltar’s strategically important location overlooking an area with a high concentration of shipping transiting the main Far East/Asia to Europe trade routes makes it is a popular stop-off point requiring services associated with activities such as ship-to-ship bunkering activities and T.P. Towage are able to provide support for such operations.

A historic point of interest over the years has been their involvement providing support services to the maritime assets of the UK’s Ministry of Defence in Gibraltar. The T.P Towage fleet consists of five very capable units, all with a long history including previous Royal Maritime Auxiliary Service duties.

By Peter Barker