One of Europe''s most sophisticated ''Fin-first'' Voith escort tugs has been chartered by Adsteam UK and put into service in the Thames and Medway area during the month of January.
Boxer, manned by an experienced Norwegian crew, is the first tug of its type to operate in the UK for any length of time.
It is being used to demonstrate the capability of such a vessel to the UK's LNG, oil, and container industries, particularly where a full active escort capability is required. Boxer is an exceptionally agile Voith tractor with a 67 ton static pull capable of generating dynamic steering forces in the order of 148 tons at 10 knots.
This charter by Adsteam is associated with a major global project concerned with shiphandling involving several leading oil companies, port authorities, pilots and tug operators, currently being completed at the Marin Research Institute in Holland. Adsteam has been fully involved in the project with managers and masters from their Australian and UK operations, focusing particularly on their experience in the Medway where LNG operations are already underway.
This latest move follows hard on the heels of an announcement by Adsteam heralding plans for a further three 'state of the art' compact shiphandling tugs and one innovative high performance 'Z-Tech' tractor tug. Stephen Eastwood, CEO for Adsteam (Europe) commented, 'The technical specification of our fleet has already been improved considerably with the arrival of newer, more sophisticated and more powerful vessels, capable of assisting container ships, tankers and the increasing traffic on the rivers we serve. Adsteam Marine has been systematically building up its UK business over the last two years, demonstrating commitment to the present and faith in the future. Over that period, we have invested in five new tugs and restructured our Thames & Medway fleets as flexible and complementary operations with a single management team.'
