Wednesday, 24 February 2016 12:04

Smit Lamnalco Cayman & Montserrat sold

It is reported that the 2008 built Damen ASD2810 sisters SL Cayman (Imo 9516284) (ex. Smit Cayman - 2015) and the SL Montserrat (Imo 9516272) (ex. Smit Montserrat - 2015) has been sold to Masco JSC on the first day of February 2016 and renamed respectively Helius and Grumant. Both tugs are built by the Damen Song Cam Shipyard – Vietnam under yard numbers Smit Cayman 511551 and Smit Montserrat 511550. They have a length o.a of 28.67 mtrs a beam of 10.43 mtrs and a draft at sides 4.60 mtrs. The two Caterpillar 3516B TA HD/C diesel engines develops…
Sunday, 21 February 2016 19:12

BosKalis Offshore buys 2 AHTS vessels

It is reported that Boskalis Offshore purchase the two DPII Anchor Handling Tug Supply vessels Sea Bear (Imo 9185932) and Sea Lynx (Imo 9178410) from Deep Sea Supply. The two vessels will be renamed Union Bear and Union Lynx. The AHTS, type KMAR404, will be drydocked this weekend at the Damen Shipyard - Schiedam; Netherlands. The 1999 built sister vessels have a length o.a. of 73.50 mtrs a beam opf 16.40 mtrs and a draught of 6.90 mtrs. The Bear is built by Kværner Kleven Leirvik under number 271 and the Lynx by Kværner Leirvik under number 281. The two…
Saturday, 20 February 2016 11:35

ROYAL DUTCH NAVY tugs sold

Alongside each other for one last time! Tuesday morning Ron Damman received a call from an employee of the harbor office: 'Are you busy?' 'Yes I'm quite busy, why?'. They told me they wanted a picture of all the tugboats alongside each other for one last time while it still could. Of course this was something I really wanted to do, so I went there just after noon. The first new tugboat, NOORDZEE, was on its way to Den Helder and the two oldest tugboats, LINGE and REGGE, are about to leave the Port of Den Helder.Above at the photo…
Sunday, 14 February 2016 11:07

Necrology Mr. R.W. Scheffer (Smit)

by: Nico Ouwehand (National Dutch Towage Museum)\r\nOn Tuesday 9th February we received the message that Mr. R.W. (Rom) Scheffer passed away at the age of 85 years. During the sixties, seventies and eighties of last century Mr. Scheffer was a remarkable personality in the world of shipping. After his training to become an officer on board of ships, he sailed for some two years on freighters and passenger ships, i.e. for Van Nievelt Goudriaan and for KJCPL on Tjisadane. Soon, it struck his masters that Rom Scheffer had quite some commercial qualities. At the age of 22 Mr. Scheffer decided to work…
Wednesday, 16 December 2015 12:36

Iskes Tugboats GINGER and BRENT in LEGO

Today, 14th December 2015, arrived at Iskes Towage and Salvage two new built LEGO(r) tug models at the scale 1 to 87: the GINGER (Imo 9507063) and BRENT (Imo 9507051). Master LEGO(r) shipbuilder Edwin Korstanje has created this two beauty's that are very detailed. The LEGO(r) ships are built with more than 2700 parts each. The original Ramparts 3200W sisters are built by Eregli Gemi Insa Sanayi ve Ticaret AS - Eregli Turkey and final outfitted by Gebr. Kooiman BV, Zwijndrecht; Netherlands. They were delivered to Ginger Tug BV and Brent Tug BV respectively and are being managed by Iskes Towing & Salvage…
Thursday, 19 November 2015 10:58

New type Rotortug ART 10-15 training vessel

On November 4th 2015, the Dutch Shipyard Padmos Stellendam BV and Rotortug BV signed the newbuilding contract for the ART10-15 training Rotortug© at the Europort Exhibition. The 10 tons bollard pull tug, designed by Robert Allan Ltd from Vancouver, will be outfitted according to her "sister vessels" of the ART 80-32 Class (winner of the KVNR shipping award 2015) and will be used as a training vessel in addition to simulation training. She will be outfitted according to superior yacht quality and will at the same time serve as a representation – and display vessel to show the Rotortug principle…
Wednesday, 14 October 2015 13:12

Book: Dutch tugs and pushers 2016

Like every year the Dutch publishing company "De Alk" comes with a new edition of the standard piece "Sleep en duwboten 2016" (title in English: Dutch Tugs and Pushing Boats 2016). The contents of the book have been collected by mr. W. Van Heck and mr. A.M. Van Zanten and have been actualized till September 1st, 2015. In this edition of SLEEP- en DUWBOTEN the interested reader will find an almost complete review of the Dutch tug- and pusher fleet. More than 2.700 tugs and pushers, professional and private, have been included in this book, in alphabetical sequence and together…
On the occasion of the opening of a new exhibition in the National Towage Museum at Maassluis a large number of guests had gathered last Saturday in one of the halls of Shipyard De Haas in this town.\r\nThe chairman of the museum, Mr. Karel Kaffa, expressed his gratitude to Mr. Govert de Haas for setting spontaneously one of the shipbuilding halls of his yard at the disposal of the museum for the opening ceremony. The title of the exhibition is "Towage from IJ to the IJ-mouth". Mr. Kaffa memorized that the subject once again was a serious challenge to the…
'From IJ to IJmond' is the theme of the new exhibition of the Dutch National Towage Museum in Maassluis, The Netherlands. The exhibition will be opened on Saturday September 19th by Mr. Cor Oudendijk, former harbour master of the Port of Amsterdam and former salvage master of Wijsmuller. At the opening ceremony many prominent officers from the towage and the Amsterdam port community will be present. Afterwards it is possible to visit the exhibition.The new exhibition gives a vivid overview of the history and the present-day towage industry in Amsterdam and about. The geographical position of the port of Amsterdam…
Last Sunday, September 6th the exhibition about the tug company Kotug Rotterdam came to an end, on September 20th a new exhibition will be opened for the next half year, about the history of the tug companies in Amsterdam and IJmuiden (the North Sea Canal area). The official announcement and details will be published shortly.\r\nIn the meantime, to memorize one more time, the story about Kotug was als follows:\r\nOn November 22nd, 2014 the National Dutch Towage Museum in Maassluis opened her doors to present her latest exhibition, that highlights the history, facts and innovations of the well known Dutch tugboat…
Recently a new morse decoder has been installed in the reconstructed radio cabin of the Smit deep sea tug ZWARTE ZEE in the museum. This decoder has been connected with an original historic telegraph key, next to the already existing keys. It is now also possible to connect a so called keyer, often referred to as a Lambic keyer. The museum is not (yet) in the possession of such a device.On the photo the display of the decoder is visible. When sent a text in morse code with the historic switching device, these tokens will be translated by the decoder…
Wednesday, 22 April 2015 10:15

Book Bristol tugs in colour

Coastal Shipping Publications recently published "Bristol Tugs in Colour (Volume 1)", written by Bernard McCall. This latest Tugs pictorial album contains a selection of stunning colour photographs of tugs that have visited ports in the Bristol area over the last fifty years. Volume 1 includes tugs used for ship handling and in the fleets of C J King and Cory/Wijsmuller/Svitzer. Each photograph is accompanied by an informative caption. This first volume begins with the tugs of C J King. It then moves on to the larger tugs that have worked in the ports and port approaches. Finally there is a…
The Dutch National Towage Museum in Maassluis recently received a gift of the half model of the tug BEVERWIJK 20. The tug was built by Werf Vooruit, Enkhuizen (Netherlands) as yard number 129. The tug was ordered by C. Stapel (Enkhuizen) and named KEES, however already during the construction she was sold to NV Hollandsche Mij. voor Aannemingen at Beverwijk (Netherlands) and delivered to Sleepboot Maatschappij Beverwijk NV (Van Hattum) at Beverwijk and renamed BEVERWIJK 20. As from April till June 1938 she was given in charter to L. Smit & Co's Internationale Sleepdienst Maatschappij at Rotterdam. In 1939 she…
Thursday, 05 March 2015 20:35

now 90 years ago: the tug SCHELDE wrecked

When tugs come to the rescue at sea, they often have to operate under very bad circumstances. In open water, even in case of storm and huge swell, seagoing tugs have almost nothing to fear because of their strong construction and relatively high power volumes. But assistance near the coast in a leeshore situation is a very risky venture for a salvage tug. Two losses in the Dutch tug history, one of them being a real disaster, that happened at the cost of eight souls, occurred in the twenties and thirties of the last century. The most appealing catastrophe was…
Thursday, 22 January 2015 16:15

New model for the museum: tug PASSAAT

The other day the National Dutch Towage Museum was happy to receive a very beautiful model of the tug PASSAAT. The model was donated to the museum in October 2014 by the constructor, Mr. J. Maassen from Arnheim, The Netherlands.Mr. Maassen is not unknown to the museum: In the past he has built a splendid model of the steam tug LAUWERZEE, that also has been donated to our museum.The model of the PASSAAT has been positioned in the so called central staircase of the museum and can be admired by anyone underway to one of the other halls.As our co-worker…
Wednesday, 07 January 2015 12:12

IJmuiden is searching for old Wijsmuller tugs

A Wijsmuller tug back to IJmuiden? ContinuedBob Rodenburg writes on the following Facebook message regarding "Wijsmuller tug back to Ijmuiden". On Monday 12th January 2015 there is a meeting regarding subject. Would everyone really intends to come forward name, address and 06 number to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. Also if you have done this already. Meeting Monday 12 January 2015 from 19.30 till 22.00 at Hogeschool InHolland; Wildenborch 6; 1112 XB Diemen. After registration I will send you some extra data via mail including my 06 number.\r\nWe are the interest group "A Wijsmuller tug back to IJmuiden?" (https://www.facebook.com/groups/sleepbootsimson) & (http://museumsleepboot-wijsmuller.webnode.nl). We aim to…
Tuesday, 23 December 2014 12:46

Tugs in camera

Coastal Shipping Publications recently published "Tugs in Camera", written by Dominic and Bernard McCall. Many people are interested in ships generally and many are interested in specific types of ships such as warships or cruise vessels. Tugs, too, have an enthusiastic following and many modellers are also keen on these vessels. In this fascinating book, the authors have taken the unusual decision to present a set of images mainly in portrait format, rather than the landscape format of most pictorial albums, as it seemed that tugs in particular lent themselves to this format for aesthetic reasons. Not all towage involves…
On November 19th, 2014 it is exactly 25 years ago that the "Stichting Help de Hudson" (Foundation "Help the Hudson") was established by a limited number of volunteers. They were of opinion that the tug was a monument in towage history, especially with a view to her great merits during the Second World War. The owners of that time had just sold the ship to the breakers and the Hudson would have become razorblades if the volunteers had not taken the initiative for preservation. M/T Hudson, built for account of L. Smit & Co's Internationale Sleepdienst in 1939, headed for…
KOTUG International B.V. (KOTUG) announces that it has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Royal Boskalis Westminster N.V. (Boskalis) to merge their European harbour towage operations.The decision is fully in line with KOTUG's strategy and ambition to develop and increase its harbour towagefootprint in Europe. This partnership involves a 50/50 joint venture between KOTUG and SMIT, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Boskalis. The geographic scope of the venture covers the European Harbourtowage market which relates to KOTUG's existing harbour towage activities in the Netherlands, Germany and the UK and SMIT's harbour towage activities in the Netherlands and Belgium. The combination…
Tuesday, 09 December 2014 10:56

Queen Máxima visits KOTUG

Wednesday 3rd December 2014, Her Royal Highness Queen Máxima of The Netherlands visited international towage operator KOTUG in Rotterdam. May 13th 2014, the King Willem I Award was presented to KOTUG by Queen Máxima, honorary President of the King Willem I Foundation.The Queen's visit began with a sailing trip on KOTUG's newest tugboat RT EVOLUTION. This Rotortug is equipped with hybrid technology; electrical energy storage permits the tug to sail in noiseless zero emission mode with no diesel engines running. During the trip the crews explained the innovative technology of RT Evolution. Queen Máxima also visited the new Rotortug-simulator at…
Tuesday, 25 November 2014 18:56

Aquarel from Hans Breeman for KOTUG exhibition

The painting you see here is an aquarel from the hand of Hans Breeman. Hans is a maritime artist and also one of the 50 regular volunteers of the National Dutch Towage Museum in Maassluis.The subject of this scene is related to the activities of KOTUG, one of the dominant towage companies in Rotterdam.This aquarel shows the homecoming in the Rotterdam harbour on August 4th, 2008, after many years of absence of the old flagship of the famous Holland America Line, the ss. Rotterdam, towed from Hamburg by KOTUG tugboats.Hans Breeman made this painting for the special occasion of the…
Thursday, 16 October 2014 11:56

Model NOORDZEE illuminated

The open-work model of the former Smit seagoing tug NOORDZEE that is to be seen in the National Dutch Towage Museum has been equipped with an internal illumination system. The project started in 2012.\r\nDue to the high current usage and the heat production of traditional filament lighting it was decided to use LED illumination. LED can easily be electronically controlled and varied in strength. During the year 2012 a total of 25 LED lights have been mounted in the model. Special tools had to be developed to make the small spaces within reach and to connect the LEDs to the…
Wednesday, 08 October 2014 00:28

Promotion video National Dutch Towage Museum

Recently the board of the National Dutch Towage Museum has commissioned the media company Dubbelklik from Rotterdam to create and produce a promotion video about the museum and the staff. During the week beginning October 6th, 2014, after a period of intensive preparations by the workgroup, the recordings started. From Monday till Thursday the two ladies of the filmcrew of Dubbelklik are very busy to get the interwiews and presentations by board members and volunteers of the museum on tape. The results so far fully meet our expectations. After the recording sessions starts the cut-and-paste phase. This first try-out will…
Thursday, 11 September 2014 23:46

Allemansend 2014

Every year on the second Friday of the month December a cosy meeting called "Allemansend" is being organized on behalf of the volunteers, members of the supervisory and advisory board and the executive board of the National Towage Museum in Maassluis to memorize the activities and events of the past year while enjoying a drink and a snack.\r\nMany years we used the building the "Kuiperij" in the Ankerstraat. Unfortunately, this will not be possible anymore because of the high price of this facility.\r\nSo another accomodation had to be found. The board of the museum succeeded in contracting the historic so…