Tow Line News

Norwegian cruise ship MS Maud is being towed to Bremerhafen in Germany after a violent North Sea storm shattered windows on the bridge, causing a power outage late on Thursday, Danish authorities said on Friday.The ship's 266 passengers and 131 crew members were safe, a spokesperson for the Danish Joint Rescue Coordination Centre (DJRC) told Reuters, adding that a vessel from civil rescue firm Esvagt had managed to connect a tow line to the cruise ship."An Esvagt ship is towing it slowly towards Bremerhafen in Germany at around 8-9 knots," the spokesperson said.The vessel was sailing some 260

Bay-Houston Towing has inked a deal with Port Neches, Texas shipbuilder Sterling Shipyard to build multiple new tugs to serve the Texas Gulf Coast region.The new vessels will be Robert Allan Ltd. designed RAstar 3200-W ASD ship handling and escort tugs for berthing/unberthing large ships and providing escort and emergency response in exposed coastal areas with demanding sea states.“The addition of the RAstar 3200-W further diversifies our fleet and provides an extremely powerful…

The three crew members of the SL Diamantina, who saved 21 lives and averted an environmental disaster in July 2022, have received an Exceptional Bravery at Sea commendation from the IMO.The Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) nominated Brad Lucas (Master), Alex Alsop (Deckhand), and Marius Fenger (Engineer), for their extraordinary efforts in saving the lives of the crew on board the MV Portland Bay and preventing an environmental disaster on the shores of the world’s second oldest national park…

Excessive speed during a bow-to-bow harbor-assist maneuver led to the grounding of the tugboat CC Portland in the Corpus Christi Ship Channel last year, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said Thursday.It is the second marine casualty the NTSB investigated in 2022 caused by excessive speed in azimuthing stern drive, or ASD, tugboats while in the center lead forward position. The NTSB said it continues to encourage owners and operators of ASD tugboats that perform bow-to-bow harbor-assist operations to set speed limits.“The risk of a casualty during these operations with ASD tugboats increases with increasing speed,” NTSB investigators said in the final report. “Higher speed reduces the amount of reserve propulsion power available to the operator.

Researchers from NOAA, the state of Michigan, and Ocean Exploration Trust discovered an intact shipwreck resting hundreds of feet below the surface of Lake Huron. Located within NOAA's Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary, the shipwreck has been identified as the sailing ship Ironton. Well preserved by the cold freshwater of the Great Lakes for over a century, the 191-ft. Ironton rests upright with its three masts still standing."Using this cutting-edge technology, we have not only located a pristine shipwreck lost for over a century…

Seven people were rescued from a tug that went adrift off the U.S. East Coast.A crew member aboard the tug Legacy notified watchstanders at Coast Guard Sector Maryland-National Capital Region at about 3:30 a.m. Saturday that while towing a 290-foot barge from New Jersey, to Guyana, a 1,000-foot towing line became entangled and fouled their starboard propeller about 30 miles offshore from Ocean City, Md.The vessel continued to make way on one engine when the tow line snapped. The…

The November edition of Marine News magazine highlighted the most notable newbuilds delivered in 2022. From sturdy and nimble workboats, to the first new Jones Act laker in a generation, each vessel on display showcases the industry’s engineering prowess and technological ingenuity, with the focus on improving efficiency in operations. The maritime industry has no shortage of challenges to overcome, and each of Marine News’ top vessels will, in one way or another, aid efforts to tackle them.Mark W.

Grandweld Shipyard in Dubai has delivered four new tractor tugs for operations in Kuwait’s Shuwaikh Port.The four TRAktor 2700-Z vessels Ghanim-1, Ghanim-2, Ghanim-3 and Ghanim-4 were designed by Robert Allan Ltd., who worked closely with the Grandweld Shipyard to develop the customized design of the previously built 27-meter TRAktor tug series. The tugs were engineered to perform multiple tasks including ship assist, escort, towing, fire fighting, oil pollution response and others.Each vessel is powered by two Caterpillar 3512C main engines…

The U.S. Coast Guard commissioned its 47th Sentinel-class cutter, USCGC Clarence Sutphin Jr. (WPC 1147), into service on ThursdayBuilt by Bollinger Shipyards and officially delivered to the U.S. Coast Guard on January 6 in Key West, Fla., Clarence Sutphin Jr. is Patrol Forces Southwest Asia's (PATFORSWA) sixth 154-foot Sentinel-class cutter.Vice Adm. Steven Poulin, U.S. Coast Guard Atlantic Area commander, presided over the commissioning ceremony at the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum in New York City.

Turkish shipbuilder Uzmar has built thee new tugs for Smit Lamnalco.Designed by Robert Allan Ltd., the three purpose-designed and -built RAstar 4200 ASD tugs SL Ibo, SL Matemo and SL Macaloe were ordered in 2019. They are the first RAstar 4200 design vessels used for terminal support and have been outfitted specially for these operations. These new 42-meter tugs are specifically designed to be operated in the offshore area near the northeast coast of Pemba, Mozambique. The three tugboats will be working together with one multipurpose vessel as a fleet in support of FLNG operation…

A containership that lost power and went adrift off Canada's East Coast has been towed to Sydney, Nova Scotia, the Canadian Coast Guard said.The Panamanian-flagged MSC Kim departed Halifax on March 3 en route to Montreal, but went adrift on March 9 after it suffered engine problems off Port au Port, Newfoundland and Labrador. No injuries or pollution have been reported.The offshore tug Atlantic Kingfisher secured a towline with MSC Kim on Thursday morning and towed the vessel…

Dubai shipbuilder Grandweld Shipyards held a keel laying ceremony for two of total four high-performance TRAktor 2700-Z tugs, on January 26, 2022.The tugs were ordered by Specialities Construction for General Trading and Contracting Company (SCC) and will be operated by Kuwait Ports Authority (KPA) in Kuwait’s Shuwaikh Port. Expected to enter service by August 2022, the tugs can perform multiple tasks including ship assist, escort, towing, fire fighting, oil pollution response and others.Robert Allan Ltd.

Indian oil and gas explorer ONGC said Monday it had, together with Coast Guard, helped avert a possible disaster relating to an empty LPG Tanker ‘Gas Yodla’ which went adrift after engine failure in the Arabian Sea on  July 24, 2021. "At 6:35 PM on that day, the LPG tanker reported engine failure and started drifting in the Sea, around 20 nautical miles (nm) from ONGC’s D1 field," ONGC said.The vessel, owned by Dubai-based Shield Marine, was on its way to Fujairah, UAE from Mongla, Bangladesh.

The crew of a Dutch cargo ship was evacuated in stormy weather off the coast of Norway late on Monday, leaving the abandoned vessel adrift and in danger of sinking and causing an oil spill, local authorities said on Tuesday.Footage released by the Norwegian Rescue Coordination Centre showed some of the 12 crew members jumping into the ocean from the badly listing Eemslift Hendrika before being rescued by helicopter. Others were hoisted directly from the deck.All were brought to safety…

The inland waterway system, flowing through the United States heartland, is a microcosm of all that has been happening in 2020: trade tensions, infrastructure issues, shifting trends in fuel consumption and the pandemic that has gripped us since the winter months. Shortly after the initial coronavirus outbreak here in the U.S., maritime workers were deemed to be “essential”, paving the way for cargo flows to recover from their springtime nadir. As COVID-19 infections turned up on U.S. shores, the boats continued plying the waterways, albeit with reduced volumes in some cases.

The loss of a towline shackle pin and deteriorated watertight fittings caused a towing vessel to sink in the Pacific Ocean about 800 miles northwest of Guam, the National Transportation Safety Board revealed in a Marine Accident Brief on Thursday.The 114-foot-long U.S.-flagged tugboat Mangilao sank on August 5, 2019 while being towed to a drydock in Subic Bay, Philippines by the 97-foot U.S.-flagged tug Chamorro. Both vessels were owned and operated by Cabras Marine Corporation.

The U.K.'s Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB) has issued its report on the investigation of the December 2018 grounding and recovery of the container feeder vessel Thea II and the tug Svitzer Josephine in the approaches to the Humber Estuary.The vessels ran aground in storm force conditions on the evening of December 15, 2018, while the tug was towing the container feeder ship after the latter suffered an engine failure while approaching the Humber pilot station.Both vessels refloated with the tide later that night…

An Australian man allegedly trying to flee the country was found hiding in the air-conditioning vent of a bulk carrier following an interesting string of events.While headed for Newcastle on Saturday morning, the Turkish-flagged bulk carrier Ulusoy 11 diverted to aid a yacht that had encountered trouble in the waters off Yamba, on Australia's east coast.The ship attached a tow line to bring the yacht toward the Newcastle offshore anchorage, and the 31-year-old man who had been…

Dennis Bryant provided a link to a story about the USCG Cutter Bear in his March 18, 2020 newsletter. It is a great story about a great ship with a great Captain (Michael Healy) and a great crew. It shows that the right combination of ship and crew can perform miracles.This one ship, its Captain (and his wife who often shipped with him), and its crew did so many things so well that it has become the stuff of legends. I will not further discuss these adventures; some can be found in the article and the rest can be easily Googled.

The harbor towage company in Finland and Estonia Alfons Håkans has successfully refloated the barge Trias on late Sunday evening 19 January 2020. The barge was aground on protected Natura 2000 area on Latvian shore.Estonian Raduga Shipping’s barge Trias (overall length 101 m. & breadth 19 m.) was under tow when the towline parted during poor weather on 31 December 2019. Consequently, the barge drifted aground near Ventspils, Latvia.Preparations for salvage, led by Salvage Master Pekka Arasola, started immediately on 5 January 2020 after Alfons Håkans was contracted to salve the barge. Tugs Thor and Poseidon were quickly mobilized to the area. Yet heavy swell slowed down the process."Because of temperate winter, weather on Baltic Sea has been extremely windy.

Northern China  Port of Tianjin has taken delivery of Azimuth Stern Drive (ASD) Tug Jin Gang Lun 33 from the Shanghai Harbour Fuxing Shipping Service Company shipyard.The ASD 35/50 Tug is joining the Port’s tugboat fleet and serves the main roles of harbour towing, berthing and unberthing visiting vessels.Following Jin Gang Lun 31 and Jin Gang Lun 32 which were delivered to Tianjin Port early this year, Jin Gang Lun 33 is also custom designed in Canada by the Vancouver based naval architects Robert Allan Ltd. The vessel will obtain CCS Notation of I (intelligent)-ship with sub-notation of “M” – intelligent machinery space; “N” – intelligent navigation…

In mid October 2018, ICDAS Turkey completed construction of its second Z-Tech 6500 tug, the KARA YUSUF-2, which will operate in Çanakkale Turkey. After successful construction and operation in 2011 of the ICDAS-19, the first Z-Tech 6500 tug of its fleet, ICDAS decided to build a second one.The deck machinery comprises a hydraulic towing winch DWF 35x130H on the bow, spooled with 200 m of Ø56 tow line. An independent anchor windlass is provided on aft deck. Rescue boat and davit…

Danish marine safety equipment manufacturer, Daniamant, has launched a tugboat version of its renowned Electronic Inclinometer, an advanced heel and pitch measuring device. The DanEI-300T fulfils the most recent Bureau Veritas Group’s regulations for escort tugboats and is approved by German BSH to the IMO (International Maritime Organization) performance standard MSC.363(92):2013. Bureau Veritas’ classification rules in the January 2019 edition stipulate that escort tugboats must be equipped with a calibrated heeling angle measurement system, otherwise referred to as an inclinometer.