Carmet acquires new tug from Australia

Carmet says it will be available for charter in Europe in spring 2025.

The 26m long vessel, to be named CT Prenton, was built by Damen in 2004 (hull built by Stocznia Kozle), the BV-classed tug also currently certified to MCA Workboat Category 1.

Twin CAT 3508 diesels develop 2,244bhp in total, powering fixed-pitch propellers, performance figures including 30 tons bollard pull and speed 11kn.

Deck equipment includes a Ridderinkhof 50T towing winch, HS Marine deck crane and an A frame and plough.

Globetrotters

MJ recently reported on Ports of Jersey’s acquisition of a Damen tug whose previous history included operating on the other side of the world in New Zealand.

Carmet’s latest addition is therefore another example of where relatively small tugs can find themselves in demand, regardless of the location of their old and new owners.

The vessel was originally named DMS Blackbird, and in the year of its build renamed Tarka for Herman Sr. (Netherlands), the second to carry the name Tarka for Herman Sr. before ownership changed to Australian operator Overseas & Ocean Engineering in 2010.

Ownership changed again in 2013 to Singapore-based Miclyn Express Offshore, before passing to another Australian operator, Pacific Marine Group, its latest owner, the tug operating under the name PMG Tarka.

Tradition

Carmet is perhaps best known for its conventional twin-screw tugs: MSC Victory, Viking, Volant and Viceroy, which handle shipping on the Manchester Ship Canal. Despite having recently marked their 50th birthday the quartet, built by James Cook of Wivenhoe, still appear immaculate and a reminder of the typical tug design of the era.

Its fleet has nonetheless evolved over time to provide services in the marine civil engineering, dredging and diving support and buoy maintenance sectors among others, services that include partnership with Mersey Docks and Harbour Company operating the lock gates at Eastham at the entrance to the Manchester Ship Canal.

CT Prenton is not the first vessel from the other side of the world to join Carmet’s fleet. The two tugs CT Upton and CT Morton were built originally for Hong Kong Salvage & Towage before operating in the UK for SMS Towage Hull, now part of the Boluda Group.

Carmet’s maintenance and support activities require suitable workboats and four such vessels are available in its fleet. Perhaps top of the range is the 2008-built Neptune Eurocarrier 2209 CT Vector, built originally as Northern Falcon for Dunberry Marine, later to become MTS Vector for MTS Group.

CT Barnston was built for Carmet in 2022 by Groeneveldt Marine Construction BV, an example of its 15-ton bollard pull Easyworker 2080 class workboat, and Vital is a 17m MCA Category 2 workboat built by McTay Marine Services in 2013.

Where all of the above workboats are of traditional layout with offset wheelhouse/accommodation, Vixen is a road-transportable Meercat RT15 workboat dating from 2011 with a small, centrally mounted wheelhouse aft.

Classed by BV for Unrestricted Area service (as PMG Tarka) and described as ‘available for charter in Europe’ the arrival of CT Prenton will provide new opportunities for this third generation family business founded in the early 1970s by Captains Ian Metcalfe and Mick Carrier.

“The Carmet of today is almost unrecognisable to that of 50 years ago,” said current chairman Captain Brett Metcalfe.