Med Marine held keel-laying ceremony at Ereğli Shipyard for two icebreaking tugboats with hull numbers ER84 & ER85 on April 16^th, 2020. Two companies signed a newbuilding contract for two icebreaking tugboats last September.

Kim Caspersen, New Building Site Manager by Svitzer, expressed his thoughts and said: “Svitzer are very pleased to achieve this Milestone during these difficult times and appreciate Med Marine efforts to continue block production for timely delivery of the 2 tugs for the Scandinavia fleet to serve our Northern European costumers. We are very satisfied with the progress and co-operation until now and looking forward to have the vessels delivered at the highest possible standard and live up to our crew and operational expectations.”

Ereğli Shipyard’s shipyard manager, Kemal Bektaş also shared some opinions about projects and stated “This prestigious collaboration between Svitzer and Med Marine is very exciting in terms of experiencing operational needs of different locations. Our high capacity shipyard is capable of building vessels in versatile sizes and features. We are working meticulously on ER84 & ER85 and they will be well-suited for Svitzer’s Scandinavian fleet.”

The tugs are TundRA 3000 design by Canadian Robert Allan Ltd..TundRA design is made for tugs operating in extreme winter conditions, which makes it a great fit for Svitzer’s North European fleet. High-quality and well-designed vessels have some distinctive features compared to other 20 different designs offered in Med Marine’s tugboat portfolio. In this project for Svitzer, the winch is capable to operate over the stern as well via trunk running through the deckhouse. It is also located in an enclosed area to achieve perfect performance even in severe cold weather conditions.

Once delivered, the vessels will operate across Scandinavia, predominantly serving ports in Denmark and Sweden.

TundRA 3000 design has following design particulars:

About Med Marine:

Med Marine is a leading Turkish shipbuilder and leading tugboat operator. The firm employs Eregli Shipyard, one of the largest shipyards in Turkey with its 162.000 sqm area and 220 L x 38 W mtrs slipway capacity, to build its state-of-the-art tugboats and Stainless Steel (STST) IMO II type chemical/oil tankers, either for its own operations or clients around the world. The shipyard is constantly being improved with advanced production standards by keeping up with latest health, safety and environmental regulations. Med Marine has successfully completed the construction and delivery of almost 200 projects, including tugboats, chemical/oil tankers, mooring and pilot boats.

About Svitzer:

As part of Maersk, an integrated container logistics company working to connect and simplify its customers’ supply chains from end to end; Svitzer has provided safety and support at sea since 1833. With 4,000 employees, a fleet of more than 430 vessels and operations all over the world, the Danish company is the global market leader within towage and marine related services.