SVITZER Australia is set to welcome two new vessels to its fleet this year, as two UZMAR-built RAstar 3200 series tugboats begin their journey from Turkey.
A delivery ceremony was hosted by UZMAR recently for the two tugboats, Svitzer Ruby and Svitzer Redhead.
The 85-tonne bollard pull tug, Svitzer Ruby, is to join Port Kembla in May 2019, and the 80-tonne bollard pull tug, Svitzer Redhead, is to join the team in Fremantle in late April.
The vessels were designed by Canadian naval architecture firm Robert Allan Ltd.
According to Svitzer, the two escort towage capable vessels feature render recovery winches, FiFi1 class notation for firefighting, LNG operational protection package and a rear winch for over the stern towing operations.
Svitzer Australia managing director Nicolaj Noes said they were always “working closely with our stakeholders, and importantly, local port authorities to understand how we can best meet their requirements, now and into the future, with our national and diverse fleet of vessel types and capabilities”.
Svitzer Newton, welcomed to Fremantle last year, is to sail to the east coast to join the Newcastle fleet.
“To that end, we have been working closely with our port stakeholders Fremantle Ports and Port Authority New South Wales to determine port operations requirements,” Mr Noes said.
“We look forward to welcoming Svitzer Ruby, Svitzer Redhead and Svitzer Newton to their respective ports.” With the new additions, Svitzer’s tug fleet is to number more than 432 vessels in more than 100 locations worldwide.