Tugs News

The operator Tug Malta has held a naming ceremony for its latest tug, Med Aldebaran, following its delivery from Damen’s shipyard in Vietnam.With more than 80 tonnes of bollard pull at its disposal, the tug of Damen RSD Tug 2513 type will add significant strength to the company’s operations in Malta’s Port of Marsaxlokk.The tug is a compact, maneuverable vessel combining elements of ASD and tractor tugs.The Med Aldebaran tug has been outfitted with a Damen Marine NOX Reduction System.

Damen Shipyards has delivered six RSD Tugs 2513 to the Port of Antwerp-Bruges in Belgium, including the first fully electric tug that will operate in a European port.The delivery consists of five RSD Tugs 2513 and one RSD-E Tug 2513.With its fully electric propulsion, the RSD-E Tug 2513 paves the way to zero emission operations. The remaining five vessels are also contributing to cleaner operations.As part of the contract scope, Damen has delivered and commissioned the electric tug’s 1.5 megawatt charger and onshore electric infrastructure.

The RSD-E Tug 2513, which Damen delivered to SAFEEN Group earlier in 2024, has won a Guinness World Records title for the most powerful electric tugboat.The record was set by measuring the bollard pull of Damen RSD-E Tug 2513 Bu Tinah. With an average high peak pull of 78.2 tonnes, the vessel demonstrated performance unprecedented for a fully electric tug.The vessel was delivered by Damen to SAFEEN Group, part of AD Ports Group’s Maritime & Shipping Cluster, becoming the first fully electric tug to operate in the Middle East.The record-breaking performance took place at Khalifa Port…

Multraship Towage & Salvage has christened its newest tug, MULTRATUG 36, at its home port of Terneuzen in the Netherlands.The vessel is a Damen ASD Tug 3212, and represents the latest delivery from the order of three tugs Multraship placed with Damen to expand its fleet further to meet additional customer and project requirements.MULTRATUG 36 is a 32-meter tug, with a bollard pull of maximum 89.5 tonnes. This vessel is intended for deep-sea and coastal towage, salvage, and other operations.One of the upcoming projects the tug will support is the Princess Elisabeth Island project…

Lankhorst Ropes is enabling tug crews to receive ‘live’ feedback on the loads experienced by their towing lines using its Sureline real-time rope tension monitoring system.Tug crews can now see, and instantly respond to, the loading on the tow rope. The pen-shaped Sureline sensor is easily installed in the core of the Lankhorst rope in around one minute, ahead of the towing operation. Via an on-vessel tablet display, it provides crews with the ability to precisely monitor the performance of each rope, including rope tension, rope angle, slew angle and peak loads, as it is being used.

Turkish shipbuilder UZMAR Shipyard announced it has delivered the new tugboat Balahu to P&O Reyser for operations at the Port of Barcelona, one of Spain's busiest ports.The Balahu is an asymmetric tractor tug (ATT), designed by Spanish ship design firm Cintranaval to provide exceptional maneuverability, ideal for handling large vessels in high-traffic port environments. It features a propulsion system powered by Kongsberg azimuth stern drive (ASD) units and offers a bollard pull of 73.5 tonnes.The vessel is powered by two MAN Energy Solution 12V175D MM+ 12-cylinder high-speed diesel engines…

Five people were rescued from a tug that lost steering in heavy seas off the coast of La Push, Wash., Friday afternoon.At 4:10 p.m., the 130-foot commercial tug Luther lost steering and was beset by weather while towing a concrete barge 10 miles off the coast of La Push and requested assistance from the U.S. Coast Guard. On scene weather conditions were 10- to 14-foot seas and winds of 45-knots.A 47-foot Motor Lifeboat (MLB) crew from Coast Guard Station Quillayute River, an MH-60 Jayhawk crew from Coast Guard Air Station Astoria…

Boluda Towage has acquired Finnish harbor towage and icebreaker company Yxpila Hinaus-Bogsering (YHB), consolidating its presence in Northern Europe.The acquisitions mark another step forward in Boluda’s expansion plans as well as the entry into the Scandinavian countries by providing coverage to its clients in the Gulf of Bothnia.Operating in the ports of Kokkola, Vaasa, Raahe and Kemi, the company will add six vessels to its fleet, five of which are icebreakers.“This purchase is a further step in our consolidation in Northern Europe…

A new RAmparts 2300 series tug designed by Robert Allan Ltd. and built at Estaleiro Rio Maguari (ERM) in Belém, Brazil was delivered to Sulnorte Serviços Maritimos in August 2024. SN Cariri is the seventh RAmparts 2300 built by ERM in recent months.The RAmparts 2300 series features compact yet powerful Azimuth Stern Drive (ASD) tugboats measuring around 23 meters in length. Despite their small size, they are equipped with high-performance twin diesel engines driving azimuthing thrusters—that deliver exceptional maneuverability and significant bollard pull…

With clean energy projects maturing in U.S. waters, the nation’s offshore wind industry is poised to grow substantially, requiring a robust industrial base. A feedering model using domestic tugs and barges to transport turbines to offshore wind sites, is positioned at the heart of this emerging growth.Currently, the entire global fleet of wind turbine installation vessels (WTIV)—except for Dominion Energy’s Charybdis currently under construction at the Seatrium AmFELS yard in Brownsville, Texas—is flagged, owned and operated outside of the U.S.

At a special dedication ceremony at the Port of Leith this week, five Sanmar-built tugs were given a traditional marine blessing with their godmothers present. They form part of the large fleet of tugs and workboats operated by Targe Towing Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of Forth Ports Limited, which provide towage, emergency response and other services 24 hours a day principally on the Forth and Tay, two of the UK’s busiest waterways, the North East ports of Scotland and offshore.The ceremony also marked…

KST Dragon, a RAmparts 2500-CL ship handling and escort tug, arrived in her home port of Singapore on September 11, 2024. The vessel will soon commence operations for KST Maritime, a subsidiary of Italian parent company MedTug SpA.The RAmparts 2500-CL design was developed by Canadian naval architecture firm Robert Allan, Ltd. in collaboration with builder, Cheoy Lee Shipyards of Hong Kong, and has been a successful series since 2018. KST Dragon is the first of two RAmparts 2500…

The Wilson Sons tug WS Onix has commenced operation in the Port of Santos, the largest port facility in Latin America.It is the sixth vessel in the company's 2513 class and was built at the Wilson Sons shipyard in Guarujá (SP). The six new tugs built over the last two years have completed more than 5,000 port maneuvers. They are 25 meters long and 13 meters wide, operate forward and aft with the same efficiency and can be used in port maneuvers and deep-sea towage.The tugs are equipped with over 90 tons of bollard pull and are the first ever in Brazil to meet the IMO TIER III standard…

Gulf LNG Tugs of Port Arthur on Thursday announced it has placed orders for four new escort tugs to serve the Port Arthur LNG export facility in Texas. Two will be constructed by Master Boat Builders in Coden, Ala., and two by Sterling Shipyard in Port Neches, Texas. Gulf LNG Tugs—a joint venture comprised of Bay-Houston Towing, Moran Towing Corporation and Suderman & Young Towing Company—said the new high horsepower, highly maneuverable RApport 2800 tugboats have been designed by naval architect Robert Allan Ltd.

Marine towage provider Svitzer announced it has inked a deal Turkish shipbuilder Uzmar to build a world-first battery-methanol tug for scheduled delivery in the second half of 2025.Designed in collaboration with naval architect Robert Allan Ltd, the first-of-its-kind tug will be based on Svitzer’s TRAnsverse tug design and feature a 6MWh battery supported by dual fuel methanol engines for back-up and range extension.The 34.9-meter escort duty tug is expected to conduct more than…

Master Boat Builders has launched Patricia B. Moran, a new tugboat it is building for Moran Towing Corporation, based in New Canaan, Conn.The newbuild is one of two 86-foot (LOA) tugs the Coden, Ala. shipbuilder is building for Moran. Ordered in 2022, the tugs were designed by Crowley Engineering Services and will produce a bollard pull of over 55 metric tons. The vessel will each feature two Caterpillar main engines (3512E) that are EPA Tier 4 certified and produce 2,549 horsepower…

Ocean Group announced it is adopting HVO (Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil) renewable diesel fuel for all of its port towing operations.Made from renewable sources, including vegetable oils, residues of plant or animal origin, and used oils such as those derived from frying, HVO fuel reduces CO2 emissions by around 80% compared with traditional fossil fuels.Since 2023, Group Ocean has been testing the efficiency of HVO at its Delta Port and Fraser River sites. After months of data analysis and obtaining the necessary authorizations from Transport Canada…

Dutch firm KOTUG has received an order from Rotterdam-based sand handling and transport specialist, ROS, for the delivery of a fully electric pusher tug, the E-Pusher.The E-Pusher, model M, will be deployed in combination with barges provided by Jansma Shipping to establish an emission-free sand transport chain between the Maasvlakte and Rotterdam.The fully electric E-Pusher, developed by KOTUG, is scheduled for completion in May 2025.The entire emission-free system - from transshipment…

A tugboat crew was recently called upon to tow in a fire-stricken trawler that had been abandoned in the Gulf of Maine.The 81-foot fishing vessel Three Girls had been adrift since August 11 when an onboard fire forced its crew to evacuate about 105 nautical miles east of Portsmouth, N.H. The U.S. Coast Guard rescued the six people that had been on board—including a captain, a NOAA observer and four crew members—but the trawler itself was left ablaze and adrift out at sea.The team at McAllister Towing's Portland Tugboat was called in to tow the burning vessel back to shore.Capt.

The Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) is acquiring four new state-of-the-art Naval Large Tugs (NLT) to modernize its fleet. These new tugs—two for each of Canada's coasts—will replace the current Glen-class and Fire-class tugs.The new IMO Tier III vessels are based on a proven Robert Allan Ltd. RAmparts 2400 design. They are more powerful and more capable, which will improve the RCN's effectiveness in harbor berthing, coastal towing and firefighting. This update will strengthen the RCN's effectiveness in supporting the fleet.In April 2019…

The outcome of over a year’s consultation with underwriters, owners, Lloyd’s and other interested parties including P&I Clubs, brokers and salvors is a new clause for incorporation in marine hull policies. The shipping community has recognized the necessity of maintaining Lloyd’s Open Form (LOF) as a contract with pre-agreed terms that can be easily used in the event of an emergency, said the Lloyd’s Market Association (LMA) and the International Chamber of Shipping (ICS). The…

Four seafarers have been abandoned without pay on a 60-year-old tugboat in Washington State.The vessel, Wycliffe, recently changed its flag to Vanuatu, and was scheduled to help tow two retired Washington State Ferries vessels for a 34-day transit to Ecuador – where the new owner is based – for scrap, but the contract was canceled after the tug experienced technical issues.The four crew members on board from Colombia, Panama, and Peru faced dire conditions, including inadequate food…

Vale has signed a five-year contract with Brazil's Wilson Sons covering scheduled maintenance for seven of its vessels.Under the contract, scheduled maintenance will be carried out on Vale’s five tugboats and two ferryboats operating in Rio de Janeiro, at Wilson Sonss shipyards in Guarujá, Port of Santos.Operating on all five continents, Vale produces iron ore, pellets and nickel, and its vessels in Brazil provide port support, assisting the docking and undocking of ships at the Guaíba Island Terminal (TIG)…