Felipe Gouvea: trusted co-ordination, alliance building

What are the key benefits of TNT for tug owners and shipping companies?

The benefits differ meaningfully depending on which side of the relationship you are on.

For member towage operators, the alliance offers what no individual independent can easily build alone: international visibility, access to multi-port commercial opportunities, shared market intelligence, and a platform that positions them credibly alongside the largest global groups, without giving up the operational autonomy and local identity that make these companies what they are.

For shipping companies and cargo owners, TNT offers a serious and credible alternative. Our members are not tied to any shipowner or cargo interest. That neutrality is structural and means no conflict of interest, while governance is designed so that each member has one seat and an equal voice within the alliance.

Many customers tell us that matters. They want a partner focused entirely on service, not one whose priorities are shaped by other interests elsewhere in the supply chain. This is at the heart of what we stand for: safeguarding choice and competition in the global towage industry, ensuring customers always have a strong and independent solution.

What are the main challenges TNT helps overcome?

For independent tug operators, the central challenge is consolidation. The major groups have scale, purchasing power, and the ability to offer global clients a single point of contact across multiple ports.

A strong regional independent cannot match that geographic offer alone, and over time that structural gap affects pricing power, contract preferences and port positions. TNT changes that equation.

When part of the alliance, an operator is part of a network with geographic scope that can offer something the consolidated players structurally cannot: genuine local expertise at every port, competitive rates set independently in each market, and no conflict of interest from shipping affiliations.

TNT believes in fair competition for all businesses operating in the marine sector, complying with all applicable legal requirements including applicable competition laws, and serving every client with strict neutrality, free of any preference or commitment that could interfere with that principle.

For shipping companies, one of the challenges the alliance addresses is access to trusted partners in unfamiliar ports. TNT gives clients a way to extend their trusted relationship into new ports, knowing that the operator shares the same service culture and standards.

There is also a structural challenge around market transparency: as large groups extend their presence, conditions for genuine competition narrow. TNT is part of the answer, not by opposing consolidation ideologically, but by offering a credible alternative that keeps the market honest. TNT today covers 113 ports in 13 countries, with a combined fleet of over 200 tugs

What have been the key milestones for TNT?

TNT has come a long way from a conversation in Istanbul in 2022. The founding partnership between Group Ocean, Sulnorte and CPT Towage provided geographic coverage across Canada and Latin America. The addition of Fairplay Towage in northern Europe was a significant moment, as it confirmed the model had appeal beyond the Americas and brought serious European presence to the network.

The 28th ITS Convention was another milestone as it was for the first time we were present as an alliance, not just as individual companies.

TNT today covers 113 ports in 13 countries with a combined fleet of over 200 tugs. The market is beginning to take the model seriously. We are having conversations with clients, prospective members, and industry stakeholders that simply would not have happened two years ago.

What needs to be improved at TNT?

Commercial co-ordination is our main priority, together with developing market intelligence that can better support both our members and our clients. We are developing better intelligent tools for presenting our joint proposals, sharing market intelligence and co-ordinating responses to multi-port opportunities in real time. Governance also naturally continues to mature as we gain more experience operating as a network. Decision-making processes, quality standards, and member vetting are examples of areas where governance is becoming more formal and consistent.

We are thoughtful about who fits, with philosophical alignment first, combined with the right service mindset, reputation and strategic geographic fit. We are also aiming to increase market visibility and to fill in geographic gaps in a disciplined, quality-first way

Where do you see TNT heading?

The ambition is to build TNT into a durable international platform for independent harbour towage; one that operates with the commercial credibility of a major player while fully preserving the independence, local expertise and neutrality of its members.

In geographic terms, that means expanding into regions where important bulk commodity and energy trade corridors are not yet covered by the alliance. We have mapped port-pair corridors representing the main commodity flows, and we know precisely where TNT is present, where it is partial and where it is absent.

We are looking to expand through those corridors, in ports where common clients are active and where there are strong independent operators who share our values: competitive solutions and local expertise that create a level playing field for customers; strict neutrality toward all clients; and an unwavering commitment to environment, health, and safety, social and governance standards, ethics, and long-term relationships.

Over time, co-operation within TNT can go beyond commercial co-ordination, into joint sourcing, benchmarking, shared standards and best-practice exchange. The underlying vision is straightforward: independent operators, working together to build structural strength while retaining what actually makes them better partners for many clients.

Over the rest of the decade, I expect TNT to be a recognisably different kind of player in the global towage market. Not the largest, as we are not trying to become a global giant. But a credible, respected and genuinely differentiated platform. One that clients know and trust, that independent operators aspire to join, and that represents a serious long-term alternative to consolidation without compromising what makes independent operators valuable. We believe the answer is yes. The work now is to prove it.

What can we expect over the rest of 2026, and the rest of the decade?

For the rest of 2026, the focus is on strengthening what we already have: building the commercial infrastructure that allows our four members to work together more effectively on multi-port client opportunities, formalising the governance architecture, and building TNT’s visibility with clients and stakeholders.

We are open to conversations with operators who might one day be the right fit, but we are not out selling memberships. Any new member would need to earn their place through a rigorous evaluation process, assessed against clear criteria around neutrality, independence, service standards and reputation, and be ultimately approved by all existing members. The right partner at the right moment will strengthen everything we have built. The wrong one would undermine it. We are in no hurry.

Over the rest of the decade, I expect TNT to be a recognisably different kind of player in the global towage market. Not the largest, as we are not trying to become a global giant. But a credible, respected and genuinely differentiated platform. One that clients know and trust, that independent operators aspire to join, and that represents a serious long-term alternative to consolidation without compromising what makes independent operators valuable.

The industry will keep consolidating. That is structural and irreversible. The question is whether there is also a strong, well-organised independent tier, and whether TNT can be the platform that makes that tier viable. We believe the answer is yes. The work now is to prove it.

Riviera will host TUGTECHNOLOGY ‘27 in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, 19-20 May 2027. Use this link for more information and to register.