A pioneer in electric tug construction

Various technologies have been ordered, but there is more potential and interest in electric boats. The main trend is for electric boats with range-extension generators.”

2023 is looking like a record year for Sanmar Shipyards, with 34 deliveries expected for domestic and international owners in Canada, Bulgaria, Italy, Seychelles, the UAE and the UK, plus vessels for Sanmar’s own fleet and stock.

“Keeping up with the high numbers is not easy, especially with increasing labour, energy, commodity and equipment prices,” says Mr Gurun. “It is getting more difficult to continue increasing production. Challenges can be more easily solved when we find them out earlier – we can handle them. But extreme changes to interest rates, commodity or labour prices, and extreme volatility between currencies can make life challenging for shipbuilders.”

Sanmar is planning to invest further in two of its Turkish shipyards and mitigate some of the cost inflation challenges by continuing to produce 32-36 tugs per year, but its efforts are challenged by price increases.

“Supply chain challenges can become big problems if we cannot estimate changes in pricing and delivery charges,” says Mr Gurun. “Thanks to our strategic procurement department, when there are market changes in the supply chain, we are not facing difficulties. We have excellent relationships with suppliers.”

Agreements are in place to equip standard production units, but when owners want bespoke tugs, there are longer delivery times. “We sometimes face delays from the supply chain, but only 10% of our production is affected,” says Mr Gurun.

Sanmar has a full orderbook for 2023, but there are still delivery slots, and standard tugs under construction for delivery in 2024 are available to purchase. The builder has struggled to keep a lid on newbuilding prices due to inflation.

“There are unreasonable price increases because of the rising costs of labour, energy, commodity and equipment prices, and these increases will continue into 2024,” comments Mr Gurun.

“We are trying to minimise the effect of this as a shipyard, but our hands are tied. We are not comfortable with these increases as we are also a tug operator, so we think like a tug owner.”

The 27th International Tug & Salvage Convention, Exhibition & Awards will be held in association with Caterpillar in Dubai, UAE, 21-23 May 2024. Use this link for more details of this industry event and the associated social and networking opportunities; and this link to book your ticket for the exhibition, social gatherings and awards night.