A Germany-headquartered tug owner has acquired a new tractor tug from a Turkish builder to enhance towage capabilities at a key waterway interchange
Hans Schramm & Sohn Schleppschifffahrt is expanding its tug fleet with a newbuilding purchased from Sanmar Shipyards.
The German tugboat operator has acquired a Deliçay-series tug, built to a Robert Allan design as an azimuth tractor drive (ATD) vessel.
Sanmar built its 25-m Deliçay Vll tug at its own Altinova Shipyard in Turkey; it features 70 tonnes of bollard pull.
It will be renamed Sönke when it starts operating for Hans Schramm in mid-November. Sönke will be based at Brunsbüttel in Germany.
Hans Schramm operates at the intersection of the river Elbe, North Sea, Baltic Sea and Kiel Canal.
“This acquisition will prepare us for future developments and enable us to meet the requirements our customers’ demand,” said Hans Schramm general manager Hans Helmut Schramm.
Sönke is built to a TRAktor-Z 2500SX design, with a moulded beam of 12 m, for harbour towage and terminal operations.
It has a pair of Caterpillar main diesel engines, with combined power of 4,200 kW, and two Kongsberg thrusters with nozzle fixed-pitch propellers.
Hans Schramm was founded as a small mooring company in 1926 as part of the Schramm group.
It operates a fleet of nine tugs, two inland vessels, a multipurpose landing craft, plus several mooring boats, barges and pontoons.
Schramm group is an alliance of specialised individual companies, covering tug services, port operations, transport logistics and maritime engineering.
European tug owners have continued to bolster their fleets through the acquisition of newbuildings and recently-built tugs from Turkish owners and builders.
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