TOWLINES

One of the very few shipping incidents reported around the UK during the violent storms on 28 October was the grounding of the suction dredger Arco Axe off Shoeburyness in the Thames estuary. The ship was in a light condition at anchor and in the early hours of the morning was driven aground by the very high winds present in the area. Arco Axe was attended by the tugs Svitzer Harty and Svitzer Mallaig, both of 70 tonnes bollard pull, and was refloated on the rising tide the same afternoon and towed into the port of Sheerness. Arco Axe is a ship of 98m in length, and 5,348 dwt, owned and operated by Hanson Aggregates Marine of Southampton.

Royal Boskalis Westminster N.V. (Boskalis) has successfully completed the sale of its Australian harbour towage business to its strategic partner Smit Lamnalco. The sale had already been announced in August 2013 as part of a strategic realignment of the towage activities. Boskalis received $55m in cash for all the outstanding shares in Smit Marine Australia Pty Ltd, the legal entity holding the exclusive harbour towage license in the port of Gladstone, Australia, including six tugs. The transaction was at book value and will not have a material impact on Boskalis earnings. Shipping activity out of the Port of Gladstone is primarily commodity related with various LNG terminals currently under construction. The nature of these activities fits well within the oil and gas industry focus of Smit Lamnalco.

At the High Court in Glasgow, Svitzer, owner of the tug Flying Phantom which capsized killing three crew members, has admitted health and safety failures. FlyingPhantomsank in freezing fog on the evening of 19 December 2007 while towing the cargo vessel Red Jasmine in the Clyde Harbour area near Glasgow. Dense fog severely restricted visibility and the crew could not see the ship they were towing. The larger vessel overtook the tug and caused it to capsize. Svitzer Marine Limited also pleaded guilty to a series of health and safety breaches, including failing to put in place a safe operating procedure following the grounding of the Flying Phantom in foggy conditions in a previous incident in December 2000.