Damen Christens New Tug for Louis Meyer

A naming ceremony was held at Damen Shipyards Gorinchem for the new tug Peter Wessels on August 14, just four months after the vessel was ordered by Hamburg-based Neue Schleppdampfschiffsreederei Louis Meyer GmbH & Co. KG (Louis Meyer).

The accelerated delivery was made possible by Damen’s long-standing policy of both offering a wide range of standard designs that can then be customized to meet the exact needs of each customer, and of building for stock to guarantee fast deliveries. This particular vessel, a Damen ASD Tug 2810, had been built for stock at Damen Song Cam Shipyard and then transported to Europe to meet just such a need as this.

The shipbuilder says the 28-meter ASD Tug 2810 is one of its most popular vessels, with more than 150 sold since its introduction. With 60 tonnes of bollard pull, they are also highly maneuverable, and are built to a rugged design, Damen said.

The Peter Wessels features a number of options, most notably an aft winch which equips it for coastal towage of barges. It also has been fitted with a sewage treatment plant, a boiler and heated windows.

Louis Meyer, established in 1907 and now under the management of the fifth generation of the founding family, will be chartering the ASD Tug 2810 to Emder Schlepp-Betrieb GmbH (ESB), which operates from the busy Port of Emden, Lower Saxony. The arrival of the Peter Wessel will take its fleet up to five vessels and will be its first by Damen.

For Louis Meyer this is their second Damen tug, having taken delivery of a Damen ASD Tug 2411, named the Jan, in June 2019. This was an even faster delivery with the contract being signed almost exactly a year prior to that for the Peter Wessels, on April 11 2019.