09-11-2017

On Wednesday, 9th November 2016, KT Maritime celebrated the naming ceremony of two Infield Support Vessels (ISVs) at ASL Shipyards in Singapore.

The ISVs are the most powerful and sophisticated Rotortugs®in the world, purpose-built to support Shell’s FLNG facility Prelude. Prelude FLNG is the largest floating liquefied natural gas facility ever constructed and will produce and export LNG off the coast of Australia. The Prelude FLNG facility will be located in the Prelude and Concerto gas fields in the Browse LNG Basin 200 kilometres (120 mi) off the coast of Australia.

Together with a third ISV which was completed earlier this year, the vessels will be employed to manoeuvre LNG and LPG carriers alongside the Prelude, as well as assist with condensate offtakes, emergency response and personnel transfer.

Mr. Ard-Jan Kooren, Director of KT Maritime and acting CEO of KOTUG stated, “This is a historic moment for KT Maritime as well as ASL Shipyards. With the development of FLNGs, natural gas production is moving in a new direction and our new ISVs are at the vanguard to support that development.”

One of the two sponsor ladies who christened the new vessels was long-serving and well-respected Shell employee Mrs. Susan Beattie, who thanked ASL’s management, KT Maritime’s site management and all their shipyard employees for their hard work on this project.

This was seconded by sponsor lady Mrs. Mimoza Anderson, the wife of KT Maritime’s Business Development Manager Mr. Jamie Anderson, who added “KT Maritime are extremely privileged to be part of such a historic project, our team is extremely excited to take on the responsibility of pioneering the use of infield support vessels in supporting a FLNG facility”.

The christening and delivery of the RT Kuri Bay, RT Roebuck Bay and RT Beagle Bay is one of many major milestones shared with ASL Shipyards, with ASL having built a total of 21 RotorTugs® to date, which KT Ang acknowledged during his address as a proud achievement for ASL and a testament to the relationship between them, KT Maritime and KOTUG.

08-09-2016

Nacala, Mozambique: KOTUG provided salvage assistance to refloat M/V “ Gladiatorship” after she ran aground just before high water.

The vessel was unable to refloat herself and at risk of being damaged by the drop between high and low water. KOTUG employed two powerful Rotortugs to pull her free of the beach and back into safe waters, thus refloating the M/V “Gladiatorship” within two hours of running aground.

02-07-2016

On the 1st of July 2016 KT Maritime gathered for a private christening reception preceding the naming ceremony of the tug RT BEAGLE BAY as a special event at the ASL Shipyard in Singapore for the Shell Prelude project offshore Australia.

Sponsorlady Mrs. Els Kooren, spouse of Mr. Ton Kooren (founder of Kotug International and Rotortug B.V.) and mother of Kotug’s CEO Ard-Jan Kooren, christened the new ART 100-42 vessel.

12-05-2016

KT Maritime Services Australia Pty Ltd has been awarded another Infield Support Vessel contract, for the ConocoPhillips Bayu Undan operation.

The contract is for the design, construction and operation of a new Infield Support Vessel (ISV), which will support ConocoPhillips’ offshore operations in the Timor Sea, 500km north-west of Darwin and 250km south of East Timor.

Perth-based KT Maritime Services Australia Pty Ltd, a joint venture partnership between KOTUG International B.V and Teekay Shipping Australia Pty Ltd, will supply one customised 46 metre-long, 100-tonne bollard-pull RotorTug for offshore support.

The ISV RotorTug has been specifically designed to meet the field’s unique marine service requirements which include tanker berthing and operations support, including emergency response.

Commenting on the contract award, KT Maritime’s Executive Director and KOTUG’s CEO, Mr. Ard-Jan Kooren, said: “This is a very significant contract for KT Maritime as we work towards further establishing ourselves as a reputable service provider to the oil and gas segment.

Our team remains committed to providing safe, reliable and efficient marine services and we are honored to have been afforded the opportunity to partner with ConocoPhillips on this exciting project”.

The ISV will be powered by Rotortug® technology pioneered by KOTUG, featuring three separate azimuth propulsion units to provide improved vessel safety, power, efficiency and maneuverability.

“We are the ISV specialist and securing our second ISV contract in the region, is a really significant milestone for our company to be reaching in such a challenging market.

We have a fantastic opportunity to work with industry to deliver the next generation of innovative ISVs and ensure we achieve operational leadership for many years to come”.

07-04-16

KOTUG International B.V. (KOTUG) and Royal Boskalis Westminster N.V. (Boskalis) have announced that they have successfully formalized a joint venture for their European harbour towage operations.

The joint operations are transferred to a 50/50 joint venture, combining the European harbour towage activities of KOTUG and Boskalis’ subsidiary SMIT. In order to retain both strong brand names and to benefit from the already well-established brand recognition in Europe,  the merged operations will operate under the entity ‘KOTUG SMIT TOWAGE’. The operational integration will start on April 7th, 2016.

With a fleet of 65 tugboats, KOTUG SMIT TOWAGE will be a leading provider of harbour towage services in northwestern Europe, operating in 11 ports in Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands and United Kingdom. The geographical footprint of both KOTUG and SMIT is complementary. Activities of both partners in other parts of the world are excluded from this cooperation.

KOTUG SMIT TOWAGE stands for high quality towage with a strong focus on tailor made services. The joint venture will achieve synergies, mainly from economies of scale benefits as well as opportunities for smarter operations– e.g. improved tug utilisation. As the operations are further integrated, sharing of joint experience, expertise and best practices will generate additional value.

KOTUG’s CEO Ard-Jan Kooren commented: “The combined operation allows us to meet the increasing demands of the maritime industry in order to supply our clients with an even higher level of efficiency and port call optimization in Europe.”

“By drawing on a combined track record over 350 years of experience and knowledge in the maritime industry and with a passionate workforce, the joint venture will further strengthen its high quality towage services. In this consolidating market KOTUG SMIT TOWAGE is able to offer competitive services against the highest operational and safety standards within the industry.”

12-02-16

The ultra large container ship ‘CSCL Indian Ocean’ was successfully refloated by KOTUG Offshore and Smit Salvage in the early morning of February 9, 2016 during the spring tide. CSCL Indian Ocean was refloated with assistance of twelve tugs and was towed to safe depth and berthed at Port of Hamburg.

China Shipping contracted the salvage operation with specialists of KOTUG Offshore and SMIT Salvage, who assisted with towing and realized the refloating operation. The salvage operation of CSCL Indian Ocean was well prepared together with the local authorities.

The preparations before refloating included taking off bunker fuel and ballast water, as well as dredging of the river bottom around the vessel and deepening of the channel alongside the ship.

KOTUG’s CEO Ard-Jan Kooren commented: “Most important is that we could assist our client’s vessel in distress. We are proud that the cooperation between experienced salvage teams and specialized equipment of KOTUG Offshore B.V. and Smit Salvage resulted in a safe and successful refloating operation”.

24-10-2015

On October 23 & 24, 2015 KOTUG Rotortugs RT Magic and RT Spirit towed the 4,500 ton topside of the ‘Alba B3 compression platform’ from Heerema Fabrication Group Zwijndrecht to Hook of Holland.

The special transport went through narrow bridge passages on the Oude Maas, like Botlek Bridge and Spijkenisser Bridge.

An experienced team of pilots, tug masters and harbour master coordinated the transport. Heerema Fabrication Group was awarded for the delivery of the 6,000 ton Alba B3 Greenfield gas compression platform for its client Marathon E.G. Production Limited.

The Alba PSC B3 compression platform will consist of a topsides with a weight of 4,500 tons, a length of 40 meters, a width of 40 meters and a height of 35 meters. The 4-legged jacket will have a weight of 1,500 tons, a length of 33 meters, a width of 33 meters and a height of 81 meters.

26-07-2015

July 26th 2015 the semi-submersible drilling rig Stena Don arrived for a Special Periodical Survey (SPS) and upgrade in Rotterdam. At Hook of Holland’s breakwater, four (4) KOTUG (Rotor)tugs connected and assisted the platform to its temporary mooring place at 2nd Maasvlakte for a thruster removal.

Sunday 2nd August 2015, the KOTUG Tugs RT Spirit, RT Adriaan, SD Rebel and SD Stingray towed the platform Stena Don from 2nd Maasvlakte to Shipyard Keppel Verolme, Botlek Rotterdam.

08-01-2015

Thursday January 8th 2015, the world’s biggest vessel Pioneering Spirit of Allseas, arrived at Rotterdam. Two KOTUG tugs, Rotortug RT Magic and RT Spirit assisted the vessel to her berthing place in the Alexiahaven.

The offshore vessel is 382 metres long and 124 metres wide. The length, in combination with the massive width, makes this vessel unique. Pioneering Spirit is intended for installing and removing topsides and jackets of large offshore oil and gas platforms in a single lift.

At the bow of the vessel is a slot, where topsides are lifted. The vessel is also equipped for laying large pipelines and, with her capacity, will be the largest pipelay vessel as well. The vessel can lift topsides of offshore platforms weighing up to 48,000 tonnes and jackets up to 25,000 tonnes.

Final assembly of Pioneering Spirit will take place in the Alexiahaven. The inner lake of Maasvlakte 2 currently provides the necessary space. A special pit is dredged for the vessel. In the port of Rotterdam, the 65 metre long beams of the topsides lift system will be installed.

The lifting beams are being constructed in Italy and will be transported by ship to the Netherlands. During the assembly process KOTUG will deliver towage services of several parts to the Offshore vessel.

29-09-14

The world’s biggest cruise ship, the Oasis of the Seas, arrived AT the heart of Rotterdam on Monday 29th September 2014, guided by Kotug’s tugs.

Thousands of people turned out to watch the ship arrive on Monday night and anchor on the Wilhelminakade. The Oasis of the Seas is 362 metres long and carries up to 6,300 passengers and almost 2,400 crew.

Thursday 30th September the ship left from the Wilhelminakade. Two KOTUG tugs, RT Magic and RT Spirit, assisted The Oasis of the Seas to the massive dry dock in the Botlek area for maintenance.