Business Sectors
Contents
Register to read more articles.
ITS Lifetime Achievement Award 2023: Ton Kooren
Ton Kooren received the International Tug & Salvage (ITS) Lifetime Achievement Award 2023, sponsored by Sanmar Shipyards, for his long career in European towage and revolutionary tugboats
Mr Kooren received the award from Sanmar Shipyards chairman Ali Gurun at the culmination of the gala dinner at TUGTECHNOLOGY ’23, held 22 May in Rotterdam, the Netherlands when the tug and towage industry came together to celebrate innovation and achievement.
Mr Kooren has been an industry leader for decades, and is known as the father of Tugnology and founder of Kotug International, a global owner of tugs and offshore support vessels providing services to the maritime industry worldwide.
He developed the innovative Rotortug design of tractor tugboats with three azimuth propellers for exceptional manoeuvrability and a high bollard pull for harbour, coastal and offshore towage and ship escort.
Mr Kooren joined the family tugboat business in the Netherlands in the late 1950s and oversaw its growth into an established tug company in the 1960s. The company was one of the contractors for the famous Deltawerken project in Zeeland, protecting the Netherlands from North Sea surges and flooding.
Mr Kooren started the deepsea towage business Ton Kooren International Marine Services at the end of the 1970s. In the mid 1980s, he started Kotug International to challenge the monopoly of the established tug companies.
He mobilised strong, manoeuvrable US tractor tugs to Europe, which paved the way for innovation and healthy market forces in European harbour towage.
With his entrepreneurial mindset and deep knowledge of tug technology, Mr Kooren surprised the world with the Rotortug revolutionary vessel design, which was named vessel of the year, while Mr Kooren was appointed as one of the port men of the year.
In 2002, he handed over management of Kotug International to his son Ard-Jan Kooren to focus on optimising his innovative Rotortug. These tugs, designed in partnership with Robert Allan Ltd, are still in high demand with newbuilds delivered for operations from Australia to the US.
To this day, Kotug International carries out demanding towing operations and a broad range of maritime-related services around the world.
Mr Kooren received praise and congratulations in an award legacy video from Ard-Jan Kooren, Robert Allan, Ken Lo and Karel Kaffa, while he received appreciation during the gala dinner.
Ard-Jan Kooren thanked his father for bringing “passion to the industry, passion for your people and passion for everyone involved in this tugboat industry.”
Robert Allan, ITS Lifetime Achievement Award 2022 winner, was honoured to have shared the love of tugboats and “making them better and safer for everyone who works on them and around them.” He said, “You are one of the most deserving people of this award I could imagine.”
Receiving the award, the 86-year-old Mr Kooren said "This is really the last thing that I would have expected today. Unbelievable. I am very glad to receive this award. We have all been working very hard to make Kotug in to what it is nowadays, a good international tugboat company working all over the world. We have an excellent fleet of tugboats, we have good shipyard partners, good colleagues and I am very proud that I get the trophy -- that’s going into the Kotug office, of course. Thank you very, very much."
TUGTECHNOLOGY ’23 is taking place 22-23 May in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. The two-day conference, exhibition and awards alternates on a bi-annual basis with The International Tug & Salvage Conference, Exhibition & Awards as the industry’s must-attend event - in odd rather than even years.
Related to this Story
Events
Maritime Decarbonisation, Europe: Conference, Awards & Exhibition 2025
30 Sep 2025
Amsterdam
Offshore Support Journal Conference, Americas 2025
07 Oct 2025Rio de Janeiro
LNG Shipping & Terminals Conference 2025
21 Oct 2025LONDON
© 2024 Riviera Maritime Media Ltd.
