New technology, sad departures feature at ITS Marseille

Keynote speaker Christine Cabau-Woehrel, ceo of the Port of Marseille, delivered a moving tribute to Jacques Saadé, founding president of the Marseille-based CMA CGM Group, who sadly passed away last weekend. His funeral is being held in the city’s cathedral this Friday.

Meanwhile, leading workboat designer Robert Allan used his talk on the 50-year evolution of tug design to express the industry’s debt of gratitude to Allan Brunton-Reed, the founder of ITS and its sister event Tugnology, who had passed at the end of 2017.

Otherwise the ITS proved an upbeat and forward-looking showcase for innovative new vessel designs, with Damen bringing the first of its new RSD (Reversed Stern Drive) 2513 harbour tugs to the city, for delegates to enjoy test rides onboard. The vessel was also moored alongside the Damen-spondored welcome cocktail reception held quayside outside Marseille’s stunning MuCEM (Museum of European and Mediterranean Civilisations) on Monday night.

Back on the exhibition floor, Novatug’s new Carrousel Rave Tug (CRT) - where the towing point is on a freely rotating ring completely encircling the deckhouse - was featured prominently.

Robert Allan’s RALamander unmanned firefighting vessel design, developed jointly with Kongsberg, was referenced several times in the conference session on autonomous ships, as was existing autonomous tug Svitzer Hermod, jointly developed with Rolls-Royce and the Sanmar yard of Turkey.

Taking centre stage on vessel automation, however, was Kotug’s live demonstration from the exhibition floor of remote operation of its tug RT Borkim, sailing in Rotterdam, via a remote secured internet line and camera images.

The demonstration was described as the first of a remote-controlled tugboat over a long distance, and was part of a self-funded joint industry project with Alphatron, JRC, KPN, M2MBlue, OnBoard, Rotortug and Veth.

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