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Carmet expands UK fleet with secondhand addition
Workboats have entered the UK market in Q1 2025 as demand rises for vessels to support marine construction, vessel handling and offshore wind ports
Carmet Tug Co has added to its workboat fleet by purchasing a Shoalbuster from an Australian marine contracting group.
The UK-headquartered vessel owner purchased 2004-built PMG Tarka in January from Queensland-based Pacific Marine Group, then renamed it CT Prenton. Carmet is transferring this 161-gt vessel to the UK, ready for charter in Europe in April.
This 26-m, Bureau Veritas-classed workboat was built to Damen’s Shoalbuster 2609 design with a beam of 9 m and a draught of around 3 m, with a bollard pull of 30 tonnes and speed of 11 knots, coming from a pair of Caterpillar’s Cat 3508 B TA diesel engines. ACL Shipbrokers supported Carmet in this purchase.
This is the latest addition to Carmet’s fleet as it has expanded operations in the UK from its main activities in the Mersey area of northern England.
In 2022, Carmet welcomed newbuild CT Barnston a Bureau Veritas-classed, EasyWorker-series tug from Dutch builder Groeneveldt Marine Services.
The third-generation, family run owner also welcomed CT Upton at its Eastham facilities after it purchased the vessel, formerly named Trueman, from UK-based owner SMS Towage in 2022.
In December 2024, CT Barnston towed Red7Marine’s jack-up barge Haven Seaseven out of the Port of Mostyn in north Wales, with pilot vessel Marieanne on standby; and in Q1 2025, Carmet’s workboat CT Vector towed dredger Ronnie W, from Dordrecht, in the Netherlands, to Runcorn on the Mersey. The dredger was purchased by Draca Marine, renamed WP Chancer and will be used to dredge sand for the construction and agricultural industry.
In Q1 2025, a new workboat will be introduced in the Ardersier Energy Transition Facility in Scotland, after its delivery by Dutch builder Neptune Marine. Harris was built as a 24-m multipurpose workboat to Neptune’s EuroCarrier 2409 design with a beam of 9 m and a bollard pull of 20 tonnes. It was named in January 2025 at the shipyard in Aalst, the Netherlands, for Haventus, which operates the facilities in Ardersier ready to support Scottish offshore windfarm projects. Neptune said Harris will be transferred to Scotland after sea trials, arriving in March 2025.
In addition, the Dutch builder and vessel owner has recently added Neptun Master, a shallow-draught harbour tugboat with a deck crane and towing winches, to its rental fleet.
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