Svitzer convoy arrives in Rotterdam

In a statement to the press Svitzer announced; “From June 1st, Svitzer will start “operating in Europe’s largest port, Rotterdam. The operation will be located in the heart of the Maasvlakte positioned to serve our key clients. The operation will be a 100% Svitzer operation. Peter Rondhuis, Managing Director, Continental Europe, is excited about this new adventure saying; “The operation in Rotterdam is fully in line with our ambition to increase our footprint in Europe based on client requests. As a global market leader in towage it is exciting for Svitzer to start its operations in the busiest port in Europe. With the Maasvlakte II close to opening, we see a bright future for Rotterdam and we want to be part of the future and look forward working together with all stakeholders in the port.”

Mr Rondhuis explained; “With our current contracted customers we have a strong foundation for our operations and will be able to offer our services to a broad variety of companies operating in the Port of Rotterdam. The Port of Rotterdam is the largest port in Europe and had a total throughput of over 444 million tons of cargo in 2013”.

The fleet put in place on the 30th May comprised; the Svitzer Nari and Svitzer Hutton of 70 tonnes bollard pull (BP) transferred for the UK, the Svitzer Muiden of 60 tonnes BP from the company’s Amsterdam fleet and the 83 tonnes BP Ginger and Brent chartered in from Iskes Towage and Salvage based in Ijmuiden. All five are azimuthing stern drive (ASD) vessels. A surprise temporary addition to this initial deployment is the brand new Svitzer London just delivered by Damen Shipyards and purchased to reinforce the Svitzer fleet in the Thames and Medway.

Established in 1833, Svitzer a member of the Maersk Group, has 5,000 employees, a fleet of more than 500 vessels and operates in over 30 countries and over 100 locations, making Svitzer the largest towage company of the world.

By Jack Gaston