TOWLINES

Batteries in Maritime	Autonomy at Sea	Alternative Fuels	Tugs, Towing & Salvage

Examining the growing role of batteries in maritime, questioning their green credentials while exploring industry insights, operator experiences and lessons learned from early electric vessel adoption worldwide.	Highlighting the innovators advancing subsea and maritime technology, from autonomous underwater swarms to cloud-connected assets and data-driven predictive models, reshaping how real-time conditions at sea are understood globally today.	Exploring one of the workboat sector’s dilemmas today: which emerging fuels hold the most promise in terms of cost, availability, practicality and performance? Or should we simply clean up the Black Gold?	Looking at how tugs, towing and salvage vessels are adapting to stricter regulations; contemplating new propulsion technologies and alternative fuels; and changing design strategies for one of maritime’s most demanding sectors.
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Seawork 15th - 17th June 2027	Speed@Seawork 14th June 2027	Seawork Conferences

The 28th edition of Europe’s largest commercial marine and workboat exhibition provides businesses the opportunity to showcase their services, equipment, vessels and supplies to an international audience.	Speed@Seawork on 14th June in Cowes offers a sector specific event that showcases fast vessels operating at high speed for security interventions and Search & Rescue.	Taking place at the annual Seawork Exhibition in Southampton, UK from 15–17 June 2027, Seawork Conferences deliver a varied programme of sessions featuring expert speakers addressing the latest topical issues in the commercial marine industry.
Visit the Seawork Website	Speed@Seawork on the Seawork Website	View on Seawork

Smit Salvage has been awarded a five-year contract to provide emergency response support to floating assets located in Brazilian waters.

Smit's 'Taklift 7' has previous experience of working in Brazil (Peter Barker)

The contract with an unnamed oil and gas client in Brazil was awarded after a competitive tendering process and involves setting up an emergency support base to provide ‘agile and effective’ emergency response services with dedicated salvage professionals and key salvage equipment. Boskalis do Brasil is the local entity of Smit’s parent company Boskalis Group and will provide the local assistance required for the project.

Port of London Authority has issued a safety bulletin reminding tug and barge masters of rules regarding correct lighting when involved in towing and pushing operations. This follows several near-miss reports of vessels, in particular tugs pushing barges not displaying the correct navigation lights in accordance with requirements of Thames Byelaw 35, a particular concern with reduced daylight hours in winter months. The bulletin carries a summary of the relative byelaw (https://www.pla.co.uk/assets/1090thamesbyelaws.pdf) reminding river users of the requirement for tugs with pushing barges to display a chase light on the bow of the pushed object, the bulletin also has a link to guidance for smaller craft under The Tideway Code.

Changes in Danish maritime rules mean that from 1 January 2021 pilots will no longer be required for certain towage operations in Danish waters. The amendment to the rules brings Denmark in line with neighboring countries including Norway, Sweden, the Netherlands and Poland in that the towed vessel length limit of 28m has changed to 50m, vessel width is up to 20m. The move has been welcomed by Danish shipping companies who have campaigned for equal commercial operating conditions in the area.

Rob Allan, executive chairman of Robert Allan Ltd (RAL) has been made an Honorary Member by the Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers (SNAME). Well-known globally as a leading authority on tug and workboat design he becomes one of only 50 living individuals to hold the title. Rob succeeded his father Robert Allan in 1981 as president of RAL before selling the company to senior employees in 2008 and while he retired from active duties Mr Allan is still a major influence contributing to the development of the towage industry in general with large numbers of RAL-designed tugs in operation worldwide.

By Peter Barker