Compact ASD tug delivered to growing Polish owner

WUZ Port and Maritime Services has taken delivery of a new azimuth stern (ASD) drive tugboat from Damen Shipyards after its construction at the group’s facilities in Changde, China.

Argo was built to Damen’s ASD 2111 design to support ships calling at the Port of Gdansk, Poland, which is undergoing further development to expand capacity.

WUZ has been expanding its fleet in this port and other harbours in Poland, having previously taken delivery of seven other tugboats from Damen.

These deliveries have helped WUZ become the largest towage provider in Poland with a fleet of 18 vessels, including a range of Damen tug models.

This compact 21-m harbour tug has a bollard pull ahead of 50 tonnes, a bollard pull astern of 45 tonnes, a beam of 11.1 m, a maximum draught of 5 m and a maximum speed of 10.7 knots.

WUZ took delivery of Argo during a ceremony on 23 October in the Port of Rotterdam, the Netherlands, before it was sailed through the Baltic under the flag of Poland to Gdansk. Damen received the contract for building this 198-gt tug in September 2024.

Damen said it customised this vessel to meet the specific requirements of WUZ, adding an engine exhaust aftertreatment system to minimise NOx and to comply with IMO Tier III emissions requirements as this tugboat will operate in an international emission control area.

Argo has accommodation for six crew members, a FiFi1 fire-fighting system from FFS, a single winch located below the wheelhouse for both forward and aft towage operations, an obstacle-free deck for safe working and Damen’s Triton remote monitoring system.

It has storage capacities for 32.5 m³ of fuel oil, 6.8 m³ of fresh water, 3.7 m³ of sewage, 1.9 m³ of bilge water and 1.7 m³ of clean lubrication oil and the same for dirty lubricants.