Tugs & Salvage

Over the past two decades the towage industry has seen phenomenal changes in almost every sector and every aspect of the business. The industry has a history traceable with some accuracy to…

URS, the Belgian Towage and Salvage Union has added two new tugs to its fleet in the Port of Antwerp. Named ' Union Grizzly' and ' Union Kodiak' , the tugs were…

United States tug operator TUGZ International, LLC, well known as owner and charterer of the 4,000 hp multipurpose ‘ Z class’ series of ASD tugs operating in a number of US ports,…

Hamburg based Fairplay Towage has sold its deepsea tug ' Fairplay XIV' to Greece. The tug is well known throughout the towage industry, having worked reliably and economically worldwide, with its running…

One problem for any journalist specialising in the towage business at present is how to present any news feature without giving the impression that it is a Robert Allan newsletter. The Canadian…

J P Knight (Caledonian) Ltd has taken delivery of all three of their recent purchases from Japan. Based in Invergordon, the company now operates a four tug fleet comprising the original purpose…

from theyard of Metaaldraaierij Sepers BV at Druemel in the Netherlands was complicatedby the fact that there is no slipway at the facility. 

Third quarter activities by Svitzer Salvage includedresponses to a number of vessel groundings, including the Explorer, which ranaground on rocks near the Mull of Kintyre in Scotland.The tug Svitzer Maillaigwas mobilised to…

Dutch salvage and towagecompany Multraship successfully refloated the 5,744gt general cargo ship AlShaymaa this summer afterthe Egyptian flagged vessel capsized in the southern Netherlands port ofMoerdijk while discharging a cargo of steel…

In August 2007, the first two of a series of new high performance,compact 24m ship handling tractor tugs, named Fratelli Neri and Porto diLivorno were delivered to Fratelli Neri Spa of Livorno,…

As the port ofMilford Haven embraces a new commercial era with the imminent arrival of LNG,Svitzer UK are preparing for the massive increase in activity. In FebruaryMaritime Journal reported on the towage…

Thanks mainly toUnited States and Canadian manning regulations, tug and barge operators inNorth America continue to thrive and develop purpose built deep sea tugs suitedto their own particular trade. An increasing number…

In Britain theMaritime & Coastguard Agency (MCA) has a well established fleet of fourpowerful Emergency Towing Vessels (ETVs) available to help protect the UKcoastline from pollution and maritime emergencies.

IrvingShipbuilding Inc of Canada has announced a contract to build a series of threeescort tugs for Atlantic Reyser to carry out LNG terminal operations.

The Finnish towage organisation Alfons Håkans has purchased the 60 ton bollard pull ASD tug ‘ Stevns Icequeen’ to trade in the Baltic. Delivery will take place in September in Denmark and…

On 29 March of this year Smit International NV announced the purchase of Adsteam’ s Liverpool towage operation. The sale was a condition imposed by the UK Competition Commission prior to the…

In recent years Maritime Journal has reported on a number of interesting vessels emanating from Shipyard Gebr. Kooiman BV of Zwijndrecht in the Netherlands.

Towage companies in almost every sector are experiencing difficulties in recruiting and retaining suitably qualified and experienced crews.

The development and increasing popularity of the Damen Shoalbuster has been a frequent subject in these pages and is likely to continue.