At least four harbour tugs will be required to support growing numbers of ships using terminals and ports in the Canary Islands
These services will be required in the ports of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Los Cristianos, Santa Cruz de La Palma, Granadilla, San Sebastián de La Gomera and Valverde de El Hierro, according to Puente de Mando. Towage requirements went up for tender in November with service providers expected to provide four tugboats, with tenders due in February 2021.
Two tugs will be home-based in the port of Santa Cruz de Tenerife and one based in port of Santa Cruz de La Palma. A fourth tugboat is to be based in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, but will be deployed to assist ships in harbours at Los Cristianos, San Sebastián de La Gomera, Granadilla and Valverde de El Hierro.
Three of these tugs require total power of 2,980 kW and bollard pull of 50 tonnes. The other tugboat can be smaller, with power of 2,240 kW and 35 tonnes of bollard pull. All will need to be crewed 24 hours a day.
Authority requirements come as ports in Tenerife are being readied for more ship visits.
Boluda Lines is starting daily connections to ports in the Canary Islands from the port of Cádiz in December 2020. It will operate six vessels for freight transport, including reefer containers for perishable products.
This will be backed by a river feeder service connecting with the ports of Seville and Cádiz daily and a new rail connection between Seville and Madrid.
Boluda said it was the first time a shipping company had launched a service of this kind to the islands. It complements Boluda’s services between Spanish ports and international connections in west Africa, north Europe and the Mediterranean.
It will enable Boluda to increase its range of services into Africa through establishing Las Palmas as a hub port.
Container ships will operate between the Concasa terminal in Cadiz and Boluda terminals in Las Palmas, Tenerife, Fuerteventura and La Palma.
Tug operations in the Canary Islands are provided by Boluda Towage, Fairplay Towage and Odiel Towage, among others.
The port of Santa Cruz de Tenerife is a hub for cargo and container shipments and has a multi-ship cruise terminal and capacity for mooring offshore drilling rigs.
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