New vessel joins Aquatic Towage & Marine fleet
A Dutch tug has made its way to the fleet of a UK-based start-up company that began life in 2022.
Relative European towage newcomer Aquatic Marine & Towage has taken the next step in its development with the acquisition of Gouwestroom, which will be renamed Aquatic Warrior.
The vessel, built in 1998, was bought from Netherlands-based Van Wijngaarden Marine Services and is one of a series of similar shallow-draught twin-screw tugs from Den Breejen Shipyard, which is now particularly active in building luxury river cruise ships.
The BV-classed tug includes Unrestricted Navigation notation and will sail under the UK flag, registered in London. The 20m long vessel is powered by twin Cummins QSK 19 main engines developing 1,500bhp in total, powering twin fixed-pitch propellers via Twin Disc gearboxes delivering a bollard pull of 21 tons.
Deck equipment includes a 16t pull single drum towing/anchor-handling winch with 500m of 36mm towline, a Mampaey 25 ton SWL towing hook also in Aquatic Warrior’s arsenal of towing provisions. A SORMECT deck crane is included along with an optional 10 ton SWL A-frame and dredging plough, the vessel having accommodation for four persons in single cabins.
History
Formed in 2022, Aquatic Towage & Marine is a relatively young company based in Portsmouth, Hampshire with an operations base in Dorset.
Its management staff are all time-served skippers, the company headed up by managing director Jacob Smith, who broke the family tradition of joining the Royal Navy and opted instead for a career in the offshore sector.
After gaining his master’s ticket aged 19 he worked on offshore wind farm crew transfer vessels and guard ships, quickly progressing to senior master and then fleet supervisor.
Following experience of salvage operations in the Mediterranean, Smith decided this was the sector he wanted to commit to so set up Aquatic Towage & Marine.
At the time of writing, Aquatic Warrior is at Hardinxveld-Giessendam, its new owner saying that following intermediate survey, scheduled maintenance, name change and re-flagging it will be available for charter from February 2025, marking an important next chapter in a young company with a potentially promising longer-term future.
