Posted on May 4, 2021
Boluda Deutschland GmbH has been awarded a contract to operate its tug ‘Bremen Fighter’ as an Emergency Towing Vessel in German waters.
The contract, awarded by German Federal Waterways and Shipping Administration runs for two years, renewable for up to three years and involves provision of rescue services in the Baltic Sea. Boluda Deutschland is a subsidiary of Boluda Towage Europe and at 104tbp Bremen Fighter is its most powerful tug, a 48.8m LOA conventional anchor-handling tug with twin CP propellers.
The vessel is now based in Sassnitz on the island of Rügen providing emergency response cover in the eastern Baltic Sea under the command of German Federal Waterway Authorities and later this year it will display official coast guard colours.
Boluda has established a notable presence in Europe through strategic acquisitions including German operator Urag in 2017 and the Dutch Kotug Smit Towage operation in 2019 establishing a presence in: Germany, the Netherlands, UK and Belgium with additional markets opening including in Portugal with the acquisition of Iskes Towage & Salvage a few weeks ago. Boluda Corporacіón Marítima CEO Vicente Boluda Fos welcomed the news stating: ‘For the first time, the Boluda flag will be a permanent presence in the Baltic Sea’.
Operating a government-sponsored ETV may seem an expensive luxury in financially challenging times with nothing visibly to see for the taxpayer, a seemingly reasonable argument for discontinuing perhaps, until something goes wrong.
Mainland European coastal states have resisted the temptation to reduce such emergency provision with waters from the Western Approaches to the North Sea through to the Norwegian Sea and around to the Barents Sea benefiting from state-sponsored emergency towage provision, in addition of course to the commercial tugs of opportunity in these busy waters, but of course not always guaranteed to be at the right place at the right time and freely available.
The past winter has seen several incidents including ships with machinery failures, lost containers and most recently the plight of the Eemslift Hendrika adrift and listing in heavy weather of Norway’s west coast. In the case of the Eemslift Hendrika and most other incidents it was tugs of opportunity that came to the rescue but with a multi-purpose ETV in very close proximity ready to intervene if required.
