New tugboat fleet ordered for Middle East operations

A leading provider of terminal services in the Middle East has ordered five new tugs for its fleet.

Svitzer has again turned to Turkish shipbuilders to expand its fleet of tugs operating in the Middle East. It has ordered five azimuth stern drive (ASD) tugs from Sanmar Shipyards for its operations in Oman.

This followed the renewal of a 15-year contract to provide marine services to Sohar Industrial Port Co, Oman.

Svitzer chief operating officer Leonardo Sonzio said Sanmar was able to “specify a reliable and cost-effective solution” for tug newbuildings during the tender for Sohar Port and Freezone. This understanding and assistance “supported our ambition to deliver safe and efficient towage services to our clients” he said.

Svitzer ordered three of Sanmar’s Bigacay-class tugs and two Sirapinar-class vessels to cover this contract. Bigacay vessels are based on Robert Allan’s RAstar 2900 SX design and will have 80 tonnes of bollard pull.

These tugs will be built with an overall length of 29.40 m and breadth of 13.30 m. They will be equipped for operations over the bow and stern, with a powerful escort winch forward for ship-handling operations and a tow-hook aft for emergency towing.

The Sirapinar-class tugs will be based on RAmparts 2200 design with 50 tonnes of bollard pull, overall length of 22.40 m and beam of 10.84 m.

Sanmar project director Ali Gürün said Svitzer “challenged us to provide high-spec but low-cost tugboats” adding that it worked with the naval architects to “customise and optimise these tugs so that Svitzer could fulfil the tender requirements with economical solutions.”

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This is part of a long-standing relationship Svitzer has with the shipyard. Sanmar delivered four 29-m tugs to Svitzer for operations at the Tanger Med 2 terminal in Morocco in 2018.

This month, Svitzer is taking delivery of two tugs, Svitzer Redhead and Svitzer Ruby from rival shipyard Uzmar.

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