Svitzer has taken delivery of two escort tugboats from Uzmar Shipyard in Turkey after ordering them in January this year.
Uzmar had two tugs under construction for its own stock and was able to offer them to Svitzer when the Danish owner needed to expand its fleet.
Svitzer Redhead and Svitzer Ruby were built to Robert Allan RAstar 3200 design for port operations and escorting duties. They were under construction at Uzmar’s shipyard in Turkey on a speculative basis when Svitzer decided to increase its escorting fleet with newbuildings.
Both 32-m tugs were delivered to Svitzer in a ceremony at Uzmar’s facilities on 12 March 2019. The delivery documents were signed by Uzmar chief executive Noyan Altuğ and Svitzer head of newbuilding Esben Grundtvig in the presence of Maersk project manager for newbuildings Kim Moller Caspersen and Svitzer regional marine manager for fleet and operations Dalton Alister.
Svitzer Redhead and Svitzer Ruby were built for safely berthing, undocking and escorting of all types of vessels. Uzmar completed their outfitting and testing within two months and both tugs were then prepared promptly for the delivery.
They will be mobilised to Australia where Svitzer Redhead will be deployed in Port Kembla and Svitzer Ruby in Fremantle
In Scandinavia, Svitzer also added another two tugs to its fleet following the acquisition of PTN – a smaller operator in the Sound between Denmark and Sweden. Svitzer Valand was drydocked this month for maintenance, repair and repainting to Svitzer colours before returning to operate in the Sound. Svitzer Sund was moved to work in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
Uzmar gained another order this month from Kuwait Oil Co for a multipurpose towage and oil spill recovery vessel. This vessel will be built with an azimuth stern drive system to a Robert Allan RAmpage 6000 design. This 60-m vessel will be used for towing and to contain, recover, store and transfer recovered oil from spillages in the Middle East Gulf.
Earlier this year, Uzmar delivered an escort and terminal tug to SAAM Smit Towage Canada. Tsimshian Warrior will support ships berthing at an LNG export terminal in British Colombia, Canada. It is the largest escort-rated, multi-mission tug to operate along the west coast of Canada.
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