A new 75 tonnes bollard pull harbour and escort tug was launched by Tug Malta Limited today.
The tug was christened 'St Elmo' by the President's wife, Margaret Abela, at the Valletta Waterfront, in the presence of President George Abela, the president and the managing director of Rimorchiatori Riuniti Group, Giovanni delle Piane and Gregorio Gavarone, respectively, and other members of the board of directors of Tug Malta Limited.
Archbishop Paul Cremona blessed the tug.
St Elmo is an Azimuth stern drive tug, designed by Robert Allan Ltd and built by the Spanish shipyard Astilleros Zamakona.
It is fully equipped with fire-fighting class 1 equipment, towing winches and a deck crane, all necessary for normal tow operations and for emergencies - to provide assistance in life saving, equipment rescuing and environmental protection situations both within and outside the territorial waters of Malta.
The vessel is equipped with two Rolls Royce Aquamaster propulsion units and twin Caterpillar main engines. It was delivered to Malta from Spain under the command of Master Kenneth Linwood and manned by Maltese and foreign crew members. She will be based in Malta and will be deployed to render harbour towage services, salvage and offshore towage services.
Tug Malta Ltd's investment outlay of €8 million in St Elmo now brings the fleet to a total of eight tugs.
This latest addition continues to modernise the company's fleet configuration in terms of type, tug power and capacity as to better meet the local shipping industry's towage requirements particularly when deployed at the busy port of Marsaxlokk where increasingly larger ships are calling.
Coupled with the introduction of the Mt Spinola in June 2009, the investment in the new tug is consonant with Rimorchiatori Riuniti's fulfilment of its commitment towards the government at the time of acquisition of Tug Malta to invest in two new tugs in the initial five years of operations.
The said investment exceeds the technical specifications set out in the Harbour Towage Agreement.
Now that St Elmo has joined the fleet, Tug Malta is even more better equipped to serve the industry as well as pursue its growth strategy to develop more aggressively offshore activity in the Mediterranean.
In addition to the capital outlay undertaken in the two tugboats, coupled with the recent huge investment in a new anchor handling vessel deployed overseas to expand capacity in the off-shore market, the Rimorchiatori Riuniti in September committed itself to a further $74.6 million investment in two new bulk carriers – Panamaxes of 76,500 tonnes each currently being built in South Korea by SPP Plant & Shipbuilding Co Ltd.
The investment is to be undertaken by Bulk Malta Ltd, a newly formed Maltese subsidiary company of the group.
The first of these vessels is expected to be delivered in 2013 and the second will be due in early 2014. Both Panamaxes will be deployed to carry any type of dry cargo anywhere in the world.
Bulk Malta Ltd will ultimately own and operate the said bulk carriers.