Multraship Towage & Salvage held a Christening ceremony on 30 May to name their newest tug Multratug 35 at their home port of Terneuzen, the Netherlands. The vessel is a Damen ASD Tug 3212. Multraship’s HR Manager, Mrs Chrétienne Huisman did the honours and wished the tug and her crews fair winds and following seas.
Damen and Multraship signed the contract for the vessel – together with a second, identical ASD Tug 3212 – in June last year. Prior to the contract, Damen had already commenced construction on the tugs as part of its practice of building standard vessels for stock, ensuring its clients a fast delivery of a reliable product.
Multraship’s Managing Director, Captain Leendert Muller, said: “Our business has grown to meet additional customer and project requirements, and as such, we invested in additional vessels and have grown our team both at sea and onshore.”
“Together with Multratug 35, we ordered three ASD tugs from Damen, which have been built in Vietnam. Multratug 34, an ASD Tug 2813, has already been delivered and is in service in Oman. The third, Multratug 36, has been delivered in April and is now sailing to The Netherlands on her own keel. She is expected to arrive early July after an approximate 13,500 miles journey. Multratug 35 and 36 are 32-m tugs to ASD Tug 3212 design for deepsea and coastal towage, salvage and other operations,” Muller added.
Both Multratug 35 and its forthcoming sister are 32m tugs with a bollard pull of 88 tons. Though built to Damen’s proven design, they have been substantially upgraded to Multraship’s high standards and requirements with a series of options. These include compliance with IMO Tier III requirements. This is achieved with the installation of Damen’s in-house developed Marine NOX Reduction system.
This modular, selective catalytic reduction (SCR) system reduces NOX emissions by 80% compared with IMO Tier II requirements. Additionally, Damen has installed the tug with FiFi 1 firefighting systems and it has been upgraded for anchor handling and related offshore operations. Crew accommodation space has been enhanced with additional insulation and rubberised to provide greater comfort.
Damen Sales Director Benelux, Mijndert Wiesenekker, said, “On behalf of Damen, we congratulate Multraship on their new vessel and thank them for once again placing their trust in Damen. We are confident that Multratug 35 will make a positive addition to the Multraship fleet, contributing to the company’s towage and dedicated project operations. We are looking forward to seeing the vessel in operation and to the arrival of her sister vessel in the coming weeks.”
Muller commented that the demand for Multraship's services has been mainly driven by project requirements. However, it also reflects Multraship's ongoing efforts to uphold a high-quality and diverse fleet, which enables them to handle both complex and routine harbour and sea towage requirements as well as salvage and emergency response incidents.
“With these new additions to our fleet, we remain committed to providing services of the highest standard. Part of this is ensuring our fleet is equipped to provide rapid, reliable, and safe operations at all times. We know we can rely on Damen to meet our specifications and deliver high-spec vessels, and we are very pleased to formally welcome Multratug35 to our fleet,” Muller added.