ITC fleet continue to expand in 35th Anniversary year

At the heart of this recent diversification was the acquisition of the anchor h

and

ling tugs,

Typhoon

and

Tempest early in 2006

.

Those two additions were followed during the first quarter of 2007 by the purchase of anchor h

and

ling supply vessels Maesk Lifter

and

Maersk Leader

.

With these two vessels ITC introduced the B-class, renaming them Boulder

and

Blizzard respectively

.

Both vessels completed an overhaul with Shipdock in Amsterdam for the purpose of upgrading

and

preparing the vessels for their roles with ITC

.

After that, both enjoyed a flying start, picking up a wide variety of jobs rapidly

.

(Maritime Journal – March 2007)

Success with Boulder

and

Blizzard has prompted ITC to purchase the remaining available sister ship Maersk Launcher

.

The purchase was completed in Abijan on 14 April, where the vessel was put in ITC livery

and

renamed Bluster

.

Almost immediately the tug benefited from the good reputation of its sisters, scooping up its first two contracts, both for blue chip principals, for work that will keep it busy for the next three to four months in Angola

and

Pascagula USA

.

Commenting on the company’s recent success, managing director of ITC Joop Timmermans said, ‘The acquisition reconfirms our confidence in the offshore market

and

our commitment to the industry

.

The accumulated knowledge of ocean towage markets in the ITC office

and

in the ITC fleet, combined with the offshore markets, proved very successful during 2007

.

‘Moving vessels freely in between these market segments increased the utilisation of the ITC fleet to a record high

.

ITC’s strategy to diversify its activities within the non-conventional shipping markets has now created a platform from which we can serve the ocean towage markets, the offshore industry

and

the dredging

and

construction markets

.

It is our wish to exp

and

these three segments in the near future’

.

In November 2007, ITC took delivery of the newly built Mistral, a Damen Shoalbuster dredging/construction support vessel

.

Having managed a similar vessel, the Elizabeth, for close to 10 years, the company decided that this activity also deserved further expansion

.

Almost immediately after its delivery in the Netherl

and

s, Mistral was contracted on its maiden voyage to play an important part in one of the major wreck removals currently taking place, the full removal of the wreck of the New Flame off Europe Point, Gibraltar

.