Held in Barcelona at the end of May, the 2012 International Tug, Salvage and OSV conference and exhibition brought together the biggest and brightest of the tug and salvage industries and, for the first time, representatives from the OSV sector.
The twenty-second bi-annual ITS conference retained its tug and salvage focus, with OSVs being mentioned briefly and generally, with regards to their potential to be used in salvage operations.
The recent addition of OSV to the conference focus was well represented amongst the exhibitors, with the majority of stands being involved in one way or another with the offshore workboat industry.
As always at ITS shows, there were some big announcements with Robert Allan Ltd securing exclusive rights to design with the RotorTug method and Corvus Energy being selected to supply the Lithium-Polymer battery packs for the next generation of hybrid tugs.
A very exciting and valuable time was had by all, and it is certain that a lot of people will be eager for the next ITS conference, to be held in Panama in 2014.
Andrew Baird