Newly formed CTV operator High Speed Transfers took delivery of the newest vessel to its Fast Crew Supplier range at Seawork, the Damen built FCS 2710.

This month’s look at new arrivals to the tug world is as usual a global affair but with a European accent covering nine vessels, also with mention of two deliveries of note from Malaysia and North America.

It’s certain that 'Cherbourg 1' is being worked hard since its delivery last year. Interestingly, the deck gear is playing a central role, having been modified to squeeze out the last drop of capability from the Damen ASD 2810 design.

Neptune Shipyards in the Netherlands has delivered the multipurpose Eurocarrier tug/workboat ‘Aitana B’ to Basque Country based Zumaia Offshore S.L.

Possibly the most interesting thing about the six Italian Heila cranes going onto the UK's new polar research ship is that two of them are not just LR Offshore certified like the others, but will be explosion proof as well - despite heading into the Antarctic.

Last summer, the tug ‘Nos Aries’ and crew aiming to recover Europe’s unmanned IXV spacecraft had a practice run off the coast of Tuscany, Italy. They retrieved a prototype of the suborbital IXV Intermediate eXperimental Vehicle, the same model flown in 2013 in a splashdown test off the east coast of Sardinia.

Following on from the merging of Heila and Double D two years ago, from January 1st 2015 Double D marine equipment B.V. will continue its activities under the name Heila Nederland B.V.

Norwegian workboat owner Samba AS recently took delivery of a Damen Multi Cat 2712 which was immediately put to the test encountering gales for most of the three day delivery voyage, a test it passed with flying colours.