TOWLINES

The Coastguard have been boarding and examining vessels from November and through January to check on crews and certification.Svitzer UK has closed down their associate company Humber Tugs Limited with effect from 31 December 2008. Following a detailed review of Svitzer operations on the Humber the company concluded that a high quality and reliable service to all of Svitzer’s customers can be provided from the Svitzer Humber operations based in Immingham and Hull. Humber Tugs Limited was originally formed by Svitzer’s predecessor Adsteam UK in order to offer an alternative low cost service, using a small number of older tugs. Most of the vessels used are being absorbed back into various fleets operated by the parent company but it is likely that some staff redundancies will occur.

Dutch tug owners W Bouwman Marine Service BV has sold the single screw tug Indus to the Marine and Towage Services Group (MTS) in the UK. The tug is well known in the marine civil engineering industry and be renamed MTS Indus. Built in 1964, Indus is 25.36m in length and during its life time has been re-engined and upgraded several times. The vessel is currently powered by a Caterpillar 3512 CHD diesel of 1,775bhp and is equipped with a single screw, Kort nozzle and three rudders.

Macduff Ship Design Ltd, currently the purveyors of an increasing number of successful tug and workboat designs, has moved into a new office building. The address and contact details are as follows: Macduff Ship Design Ltd. Low Shore, Macduff, Aberdeenshire AB44 1RE Scotland, UK. Telephone and fax numbers are unchanged but managing director Donald Cameron has the new email address: donald@macduffshipdesign.com

T P Towage Ltd of Gibraltar has sold the tug Mumbles to Resistência – Serviços À Navegação, Lda of Setubal, a member of the Lutamar Group. Mumbles was originally built in 1969 for use at Swansea by the Alexandra Towing Company Ltd, transferred to Gibraltar in 1995, and was handed over to T P Towage Ltd by successors Howard Smith in 1998. The vessel is a single screw tug with a bollard pull of 40 tons, powered by a Ruston main engine of 2,190bhp. The sale follows the purchase of the Voith tractor Wellington (formerly Smit Canada ex; Canada) in March of 2008.