Work Boat World Editorial – May 2014
The past few years have seen a boom in tug building that has been both strong and enduring. It is the longest such period that I remember.
Given that the Global Financial Crisis and a major shipping market collapse fell in the middle of the boom period, this is remarkable.
Since the Second World War there has been a reasonably regular cycle featuring tug construction booms that peak about every twenty years. Such booms normally fizzle out when the market is sated after about five years.
This boom, though, has been different. It is both longer and stronger. It has been marked, too, by some exciting technical developments.
Of course, this boom has been accompanied by the overall drift of shipbuilding from West to East. However, Western Europe is still building plenty of tugs as are Eastern Europe and Turkey. The United States keeps building new tugs for its own Jones Act protected home market.
Apart from the United States the tug market is completely global. New tugs are being delivered from yards in China to Central and South America, for example. Chilean built tugs have gone to Norway, and Dutch finished and built tugs have gone everywhere.
Tug designs have predominantly come from Canada, Spain, The Netherlands and Singapore but their sources are becoming increasingly diverse.
Old tugs eventually wear out, although, compared with other vessels, they tend to be very long lived. They are built strongly in the first place but they also tend to be well handled and maintained. Their average useful life in first ownership usually exceeds twenty-five years.
This means that their replacement programmes are usually inspired by technical or operational developments rather than old age. The last few years have seen massive changes in port operations, particularly in concentration. We have also seen vast developments in the tug intensive Panama Canal and massive increases in the sizes of cruise and container ships. All of these necessitate larger, more powerful and more versatile tugs.
Increasing environmental awareness practically everywhere has led to cleaner tugs with much less polluting engines. We are now even starting to see LNG fuelled tugs. As with every means of transport, engines have become cleaner, more powerful and more reliable. Tug engineers are becoming relics.
Propulsion systems, too, are being continually improved. Manoeuvrability is unbelievable compared with thirty years ago. Maximum thrust can be directed practically anywhere.
Compact engines and propulsion systems mean that tugs can be smaller for a given bollard pull. Efficient winches and deck equipment, combined with more reliable engines, mean that tug crews have been able to be significantly reduced.
All this adds up to very exciting times in the global tug market. Readers of Work Boat World are kept up-to-date with developments on a month-to-month basis but in this special tug focused issue they are being given a much wider overview. I trust that you find it interesting, informative and valuable.
World Ocean Council Business Forum on Ocean Policy and Planning
Some readers would be aware that I am a director of the World Ocean Council. This United States-based organisation describes itself as "The International Business Alliance for Corporate Ocean Responsibility".
It is thus something that is or should be close to the hearts of all readers of this magazine.
WOC is organising another of its first rate events in New York City in late September. This business forum will, I am sure, be well run and worth participating in if you hope to be able to continue to operate on or in the world's oceans.
I suggest you take a look at www.oceancouncil.org for more information and membership details. It is a highly effective organisation.
Neil Baird