Deliveries grow European tugboats fleets in 2022

Damen secured several newbuild purchases from operators in the region, including in France, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal and the UK.

In Portugal, the port authority for Douro and Leixões took delivery of two reverse stern drive (RSD) tugs, Dóris and Tétis, from Damen in June and July. Both, sailing under the Portuguese flag and supporting ships at the Port of Leixões, were built to Damen’s RSD 2513 design, with 70 tonnes of bollard pull.

They are equipped with the Damen exhaust aftertreatment system to minimise NOx emissions and comply with IMO Tier III emission standards, FiFi1 fire-fighting systems and Triton monitoring units for emissions and fuel reports.

Thomas Services Maritimes purchased harbour tug TSM Odat from Damen and TSM Batz utility vessel from Neptune Marine for its French port operations. Neptune Marine also supplied new harbour tug Pancho to Verbeke Shipping.

Multraship Towage added Multratug 6 harbour tug and Multrasalvor 6 salvage support vessel to its fleet and Fairplay Towage took delivery of Fairplay 37 from Damen to support port and offshore renewables in Poland. This 27.1-m tug was built to Damen’s Shoalbuster 2711 ICE design, with a bollard pull of 47 tonnes and propulsion complying with IMO Tier III standards.

Also in Poland, Remontowa Shipbuilding completed emergency response vessel Strażak-28 to support terminals in Szczecin.

In the UK, Carmet Tug Co added CT Barnston to its Liverpool fleet, after its construction by Groeneveldt Marine Services in the Netherlands. This EasyWorker-series and Bureau Veritas-classed tug was built with two Volvo Penta engines, complying with IMO Tier III emissions standards.

Turkish builder Tor Marine delivered 30-m tugboat Hope to an unnamed UK owner in Q2 2022. It was built to Macduff Ship Design architecture, with 46 tonnes of bollard pull.

Orkney Islands Council welcomed Freyja of Scapa, a Kocacay-class tug from Sanmar’s Turkish shipyards, for operations in northern Scotland.

Sanmar also supplied Med Bellatrix and Med Capella to MSC’s MedTug and Aquila 2 to new client Bulgarian operator BMF Tug Service. Sanmar also added Delicay X, Delicay XIII and four Kocacay-class tugs to its own fleet, while Uzmar added Alsancak 22 to its fleet in Turkey.