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Noatum continues fleet growth in 2026 with new launch
A Turkish shipyard has launched an escort tug for an AD Ports subsidiary for operations in the Middle East and Africa
Noatum Maritime is investing in its fleet of harbour tugboats as it expands its services across the Middle East and Africa.
The Abu Dhabi-headquartered AD Ports subsidiary witnessed the launch of its latest escort tug by Med Marine at Eregli Shipyard on Turkey’s Black Sea coast.
Med Marine launched the ER162 newbuild on 12 January 2026 and is completing it at the shipyard, ready to undertake terminal and escort operations and emergency response.
This 28-m tug is built to Robert Allan Ltd’s RAstar 2800 design with a beam of 13 m, a draught of 6 m, a minimum bollard pull of 80 tonnes, a top speed of 12 knots and full compliance with FiFi1 firefighting class requirements.
Med Marine will outfit the azimuth stern drive tug with towing winches on the forward and aft decks to support ship handling, towing, pushing and mooring in an African port, potentially Sierra Leone, according to the flag it was draped in during the launch ceremony.
Its propulsion will consist of twin diesel main high-speed, four-stroke engines driving two azimuth thrusters.
Noatum Maritime expanded its fleet with Med Marine-built vessels in 2025, with two tugs mobilised in the last few months to support gas carriers at a Nigerian LNG terminal.
Marshall Islands-flagged, 32-m, 497-gt Alnouf and Alyasat 1 are operating in Lekki after being built to a RAstar 3200-W design, each with around 80 tonnes of bollard pull, a top speed of 12 knots and a FiFi1 firefighting system.
Also in Q4 2025, Noatum Maritime was selected by Bapco Upstream to provide marine services at the LNG terminal near Khalifa Bin Salman Port in Bahrain for five years.
In the UAE, Noatum added a second battery-electric tugboat to its low-emissions operations in Khalifa Port in Abu Dhabi in 2025. Damen Shipyards supplied the reverse stern drive (RSD) tugboat, built to its RSD-E 2513 design, from the Song Cam Shipyard in Vietnam to the port and owner.
The 28th International Tug & Salvage Convention, Exhibition & Awards will be held in Gothenburg, Sweden, in association with Caterpillar, 19-21 May 2026. Use this link for more details of this industry event and the associated social and networking opportunities.
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