Alongside other maritime service providers and partners of the Netherlands maritime sector, Boluda Towage Europe has participated in agreements reached to expand and intensify activity in the North Sea ports, with the aim of greater efficiency and more reliable planning for port and nautical chain management.

Boluda Towage Europe participates in efficiency and reliability agreements in North Sea ports
Caption: Boluda Towage Europe tugboats assisting a ship’s entry to a North Sea port (The Netherlands).

The work agreements have been made possible thanks to the support of Boluda Towage Europe, DAB-Loodswezen, De Eendracht, Joint Nautical Authority (made up of Rijkswaterstaat and the Flemish Agency for maritime and coastal services), Montis Mooring, Multraship Towage & Salvage, North Sea Port, Regionale Loodsencorporatie Scheldemonden, Verenigde Bootlieden Terneuzen and Vlissingse Bootliedenwacht.

This initiative also includes expanding on the current Ghent-Terneuzen canal management area by including the Sloe and Braakmanhaven Areas, as well as local anchorages.

Planning

To avoid spikes in ship traffic, the agreement stipulates that clients will be responsible for indicating their ship’s arrival and departure times for their port destination, and the responsible authorities and nautical service providers must accommodate these interests in each port. In this way, nautical chain partners will also be able to coordinate their long-term capacity planning and respond more effectively to expected peak situations, adverse weather conditions, congestion and delays.

The planning of the port and nautical services chain will be based on realistic scenarios, taking into account ship characteristics, restrictions in terms of infrastructure and nautical, traffic and weather conditions.

To this end, deviations from the definitive chain planning during its implementation will not be allowed to cause delays for other vessels. All stakeholders will receive the necessary information via a joint platform, as well as through their own systems.

Source: Boluda