Sanmar Shipyards reports busy start to 2025
Turkey’s Sanmar Shipyards has reported a busy start to 2025 as it delivers one of its best-selling vessels to a progressive Norwegian tug owner and secures its first order of the new year.
Norway’s Buksér og Berging is no stranger to Sanmar’s products and the recent delivery of Bever to the Lysaker, Norway-based company will be its ninth Sanmar-built vessel, with number 10 hot on its heels and due for delivery in April 2025.
Bever was actually completed in 2024, and following activities as part of Sanmar’s own fleet has become a member of Buksér og Berging’s family. The Boğaçay-class vessel (completed as Boğaçay LXVII) is based on Robert Allan’s RAmparts 2400-MkII marque, a design exclusive to Sanmar.
Bever is powered by twin CAT 3512E main engines powering Rolls-Royce thrusters and producing a bollard pull ahead of 60 tonnes. The 24.4m LOA vessel has a beam of 12m and a navigational draught of 5.45m, its tank capacities including 78m3 of fuel and 12m3 of potable water.
Sanmar describes Buksér og Berging as having ‘exacting green targets’, demonstrated by the Norwegian company recently becoming the first operator in Europe of one of Sanmar’s ‘no emissions’ fully electric ElectRA harbour tugs and currently operating in Oslo.
Since delivery in April 2024, Sanmar reports BB Electra has already completed 81 towage operations during 835 running hours.
Other notable tugs in the fleet include Bokn and Borgøy, the world’s first LNG-powered ship-assist tugs, and the theme continues with Bever, its green credentials including advanced machinery automation and compliance with IMO Tier III emissions standards.
Off to Mexico
Sanmar’s first order for 2025 also involves one of its Boğaçay class ASD tugs currently under construction under the build name Boğaçay LXXIX. It is destined to join the fleet of Ultratug, the new vessel to join the Santiago, Chile-based company’s Mexico fleet, where it will operate at Lazaro Cardenas Port on Mexico’s Pacific coast.
Ultratug has more than 55 years of experience in the Americas, its activities including within the towage, salvage and offshore sectors, while its Mexico arm has operated under a long-term contract at Lazaro Cardenas port since 2017 with a ‘modern and versatile’ fleet of three ASD tugs.
As with Bever for Buksér og Berging, the vessel for Ultratug is a RAmparts 2400SX-MkII design but will differ from the Norwegian example in being adapted to meet Ultratug Mexico’s specific needs, including accommodation for up to eight crew members with two single-berth cabins in the deckhouse and three double cabins below deck.
General description and machinery details are similar for both vessels, Ultratug’s version having a bollard pull of 75 tons over the stern. Sanmar says it is compatible for a Caterpillar SCR exhaust gas after-treatment solution to reduce nitrogen oxide emissions.
“This new investment in Mexico reinforces our commitment with Lazaro Cardenas port to providing modern and powerful world-class towage services at Lazaro Cardenas Port,” says Rodrigo Valderas, CEO of Ultratug Mexico. “It represents a significant step forward in our operational capabilities, bringing advanced technology, environmental compliance, and exceptional performance to our fleet.”
