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SAAM Smit Towage purchases new tug from Damen

SAAM Smit Towage purchases new tug from Damen
SAAM Smit Towage has signed a contract to buy a new tug from Damen Shipyards for delivery in early 2016.

The Damen ASD Tug 2913 is currently under construction at Damen’s shipyard in Galati in Romania as part of the shipbuilder’s build-to-stock business, allowing the tug to be delivered in around six months from the signing of the contract.

Financial details of the deal were not disclosed.

This is the first new tug to be purchased by Smit Towage since its establishment in July 2014 as a joint venture between SAAM of Chile and Dutch firm Royal Boskalis Westminster.

The new tug, to be based initially in Panama, has been designed primarily as a compact, highly manoeuvrable and powerful tug, suited for busy harbours and waterways where space is limited, as well as for more general operations in open water.

The double-hull tug will feature a bollard pull of 80 tonnes and fire-fighting capability.

Giel Venema, area manager for Damen, said: “We are confident that the capabilities of the ASD Tug 2913 will serve the joint venture and its customers well, particularly in the demanding environment of the new, expanded Panama Canal.”