Italian tug owner Rimorchiatori Mediterranei’s subsidiary Rimorchiatori Augusta secured loans from Milan-headquartered UniCredit to purchase newbuild tugs from Turkey
Watson Farley & Williams (WFW) advised UniCredit on loans granted to Rimorchiatori Augusta for purchasing Italy-flagged tugboats Città di Siracusa in 2023 and Ortigia in 2024 to bolster its fleet operating in Sicily, Italy.
Both were built by Sanmar Shipyards as Bogacay-class vessels in Turkey and operate in the ports of Augusta and Siracusa manoeuvring, berthing and undocking ships.
Ortigia has a maximum speed of around 12 knots and a towing capacity of more than 60 tonnes, coming from two high-speed, electronically controlled Caterpillar-manufactured Cat 3512E marine diesel main engines each producing 1,901 kW of power at 1,800 rpm.
It is one of the first tugboats operating in Italian ports to be IMO Tier III-compliant, using aftertreatment technology to lower NOx emissions.
Genoa-headquartered Rimorchiatori Mediterranei also added Bogacay-class tugboat San Vitale in 2024 for operations in the Adriatic Sea. It has 70 tonnes of bollard pull and Caterpillar IMO Tier III-compliant engines.
Rimorchiatori Mediterranei is likely to order more tugs in 2024 after securing the towage concession for shipping in the port of Genoa and committing to investing in that fleet.
The subsidiary of Mediterranean Shipping Co manages a fleet of around 170 vessels, and has more than 1,000 employees working across Europe, Asia and South America.
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