TOWLINES (January 2015)

Osprey Shipping are perhaps better known for offering port agency services for shipowners, they also however operate a variety of vessels including multipurpose deck cargo barges and tugs. Until recently their fleet included a Damen Stantug 2208 (Osprey Boxer), their activities including transportation of offshore windfarm components.

Their latest tug Osprey Fearless (right)was one of a pair built in Spain in 1997 for Italian owners as the Orion, the other originally named Mars. This latest acquisition is 30m LOA and powered by two MAK 8M-20 engines producing a bollard pull of 47.7t. Deck machinery includes double drum towing winches fitted forward and aft and a Palfinger Marine PK 18080M deck crane.

Bourbon Maritime’s subsidiary Les Abeilles’ emergency towage vessel (ETV) Abeille Liberte has been in action assisting a disabled tanker. The ETV was tasked to assist the Russian owned vessel Olympiyskiy Prospect which encountered steering problems some 26 nautical miles northwest of Fecamp while on passage from Le Havre to Russia.

The ship’s crew attempted to repair the fault but their efforts proved to be unsuccessful. The incident was reported to the Regional Operational Centres for Monitoring and Rescue (CROSS) in Jobourg. Once on scene the Abeille Liberte established a towing connection and the tanker towed to the safety of Le Havre.

Rotterdam based Kotug are featuring in the news of late and recently their subsidiary company Kotug Malaysia Sdn. Bhd. and Johor Port Berhad announced the establishment of a partnership for provision of towage services in Johor Port and other identified areas.

An interesting factor with Johor Port’s selection of Kotug is their wish to establish a partner who could deliver innovative, efficient and safe operations by means of Rotortug technology. Johor Port anticipates strong interest from new and existing customers from the combined resources of themselves and Kotug’s management system and crews.

The partnership follows Kotug’s recent start-up in Brunei where three Rotortugs were shipped in from Europe to provide towage services at the Brunei LNG Terminal for Brunei Shell Petroleum Company (see MJ December 2014).

A significant expansion of Royal Boskalis Westminster NV’s terminal services provider subsidiary Smit Lamnalco has been announced with their acquisition of the entire shareholding in PB Towage Australia, part of Pacific Basin Shipping Limited.

The deal involves all of PB Towage’s harbour towage operations and 16 tugs along with one harbour tug and barge owned by other PB companies. The development will see Smit Lamnalco becoming active in eight Australian ports with a total of 29 vessels offering harbour towage along with terminal and FPSO-related services. The transaction is expected to be completed in January 2015.