Middle East tug and workboat fleet additions are enhancing the port and marine services owners can offer in the dynamic region
Tug owners in the Middle East region have expanded their fleets to meet the rising needs of shipping and ports for marine services, from vessel handling to buoy maintenance and pilotage. Many operators in this growth region are involved in commercial maritime, marine construction and offshore services with vessels drifting between each sector as work arises.
Safeen Group, a core component within Abu Dhabi (AD) Ports Group’s maritime cluster, has extended its fleet with a Shoalbuster from Damen Shipyards for port and coastal services.
Damen delivered Shoalbuster 3209 vessel Al Mirfa in July 2023 for use in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (UAE) to carry out buoy maintenance and vessel towage, for which this design of vessel is ideally suited.
This 32-m, 335-gt vessel has bollard pull of 45 tonnes, a beam of 9 m and a shallow draught of around 3 m. It has free deck space of 80 m2, storage for 215 m3 of fuel, a top speed of 11 knots and a hull depth of around 4 m.
On Al Mirfa, Damen installed a heavy-duty deck crane, waterfall winch and towing pins, stern roller, a FiFi1-class fire-fighting system, buoy clamps and chain stoppers, enabling this vessel to support towing activities in ports and offshore.
“We are continuing Safeen Group’s marine-service fleet expansion with this new acquisition,” says AD Ports maritime cluster acting chief executive Ammar Al Shaiba.
“Expanding on our buoy maintenance and towing capabilities further enhances our ability to meet increased operational demands.”
Safeen already operates a Damen Shoalbuster 2609 model that was delivered in 2016 and two Damen-designed and built azimuth stern drive tugs (ASD) of ASD 2411 design, delivered in 2019. Albwardy Damen in the UAE will provide Safeen with aftersales support for the new vessel and those in the fleet.
“Safeen is the largest and most advanced provider of diversified maritime services in the region, delivering marine services, merchant shipping, transhipment and offshore and subsea solutions,” explains Capt Al Shaiba.
“As part of the maritime cluster under AD Ports Group, we continue to expand our operations to provide the highest level of service to customers around the globe.”
Safeen also added tugboats from Med Marine, which builds them at the Eregli Shipyard in Turkey. This year, 290-gt tug Kezad was added to the fleet with an overall length of 22 m and a beam of 11 m. Med Marine also supplied harbour tug Harbour Star 5 to Safeen in 2022. Safeen then purchased 2016-built harbour tug Al Shadeed and renamed it Mooring Star 1 in 2023.
Safeen operates in several ports and terminals in the Middle East and east Africa providing pilotage, towage, mooring, maintaining aids to navigation and providing dedicated oil spill, marine emergency response and ancillary quayside services.
It has a joint venture with National Marine Dredging Co and another with Allianz Logistics Middle East. It operates 22 tugboats, six pilot boats, one buoy handling vessel, a survey boat, a landing craft and nine speedboats.
Source : Riviera