TUGS & SALVAGE

TOWLINES September 2009

17 years ago

The project to refurbish and preserve the fifty year old ocean going tug Elbe took a major step forward during the first days of September when the historic vessel was towed from its berth in Maasluis to Eemshaven for dry docking and painting at the Damen Shipyards Van Brink yard.

First commissioned as part of the L. Smit International deepsea fleet in 1959, the vessel had a chequered career prior to eventually being returned to Holland. The preservation project has been a major undertaking and has suffered many difficulties but thanks to a dedicated crew of enthusiasts and several major sponsors the future, in this it’s 50 anniversary year, looks much brighter.

Damen Shipyards at Galatz in Romania has delivered Smit Ebro, the final vessel in a batch of ten ASD Tug 2810 tugs for Smit International. This final delivery brings the total number of tugs built for Smit to this design since 2004 to 23 (MJ – April 2009). The 28.67m Smit Ebro incorporates all of the latest modifications introduced in this latest batch and is powered by two Caterpillar main engines producing a total of 4,930 bhp, to achieve a bollard pull of 60.5 tons ahead and 56.7 tons towing astern. At the time of writing Smit Ebro was on route to its home port of Rotterdam.

Dutch towage specialists International Transport Contractors (ITC) has expanded its offshore fleet with the bareboat charter of the newly constructed anchor handling supply vessels Marsol Hauler and Marsol Handler, completed in May 2008 and November 2009. The vessels will be operated under the Dutch flag bearing the names ITC Cyclone and ITC Chinook respectively. Both have twin screw propulsion systems, with MAK main engines of 10,800 bhp, giving them a static bollard pull of 136 tons.

The 19.5m tug Ijsselstroom that sank off the entrance to Peterhead harbour on 6 June (MJ – July 2009) has been raised and returned to the Netherlands and its owners Van Wijngaarden Marine Services. Ijsselstroom was quickly raised on 13 of July by the floating sheerlegs GPS Apollo and towed across the North Sea by the tug Frigga.