Fairplay Towage orders new tugboat fleet for LNG terminal support

Fairplay Towage has ordered six newbuild tugs from Sanmar Shipyards as it expands its fleet in the Baltic in response to investment in new LNG import terminals.

The Hamburg, Germany-headquartered owner signed contracts for these vessels on 25 September 2026 as part of its fleet modernisation and expansion strategy.

After their deliveries in 2027 and 2028, they will be deployed in Poland and potentially Germany, where more LNG regasification and import terminals are being deployed as alternatives to piped gas from Russia.

All six tugs will be built by Sanmar in Turkey to Robert Allan Ltd designs, with ice-class notations to ensure safe operations in winter conditions in Baltic ports.

They will also be equipped with FiFi1 class fire-fighting capabilities, ship towing winches and exhaust treatment modules, involving selective catalytic reduction units and urea tanks, to minimise NOx emissions and to comply with IMO Tier III regulations for operating in the Baltic Sea emissions-control area.

These contracts were signed by Fairplay Towage group managing directors, Philip-Alexander Harmstorf and Holger Schwesig, and Fairplay Towage Polska managing directors, Arkadiusz Ryz and Witold Wojciechowski, alongside Sanmar vice chairman and chief executive, Ali Gürün, and commercial director, Rüçhan Civgin.

“With the order of two offshore tugs and four harbour tugs, we are making a clear and consistent investment in the future of Fairplay,” said Mr Harmstorf.

“Our ambition is to provide the highest levels of performance, reliability and state-of-the-art technology – not only today, but also in the years ahead,” he said.

“That is why we have deliberately chosen vessels that represent the very forefront of tug technology currently available on the market.”