Sustainable Harbour Towage

Towing industry highly resilient

In September 2022, the International Tug and Salvage Convention (ITS) took place in Istanbul. Especially for this occasion, this issue of the GMAP Maritime & Offshore Newsletter has been published.

This issue examines the influences of stricter environmental regulations, smarter tugs and the need for greater efficiency. The market is responding by increasing digitalization, new business models and new collaborations.

Substantial investments are needed to be and remain full participants in this ever-changing landscape. In addition to developments and market changes, this sector also faced the COVID 19 pandemic and geopolitical tensions. The COVID 19 pandemic highlighted the vulnerability of global supply chains, with one of the consequences being the formation of new supply chains. Current geopolitical tensions are also affecting global trade. Important influences are the tensions between the U.S. and China and the war between Russia and Ukraine.

Despite all these challenges, the towing industry has proven to be very resilient.

The tugboat industry is undergoing tremendous change due to consolidation. New contract forms, new regulations and changing stakeholder relationships, synergies and other efficiencies are fueling this wave of consolidation. For smaller players, it sometimes becomes difficult to claim their place. This consolidation game and the solid presence of major players in the market, even during the COVID-19 pandemic, have also increased the interest of financial investors in the sector. The coming years will be interesting with the combination of technical developments to make the global tow fleet more efficient and environmentally friendly, and we expect a continuation of the consolidation game.

In this publication, you will again find an overview of selected tugboat companies. In addition to a brief description of these companies, there are also the overviews of the fleets, recent acquisitions and how the sustainability factor is being rolled out within the companies.

Our thanks to the valuable information we received from the tugboat companies to create this overview

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