Uzmar has completed three of a five-vessel newbuilding campaign for Kotug International and Misr Tugboats has built the first two for the Suez Canal Authority
A third newbuild escort tug built in Turkey for Kotug International to support an offshore LNG terminal is on its way to West Africa.
Uzmar Shipyard completed SD Rosso in mid-June as the third in a series of 32-m tugs built to Robert Allan Ltd’s RAstar 3200W design, with two more under construction. According to automatic identification system (AIS) information, SD Rosso was sailing through the Mediterranean under the flag of St Vincent and the Grenadines at the end of June following sea trials.
It follows SD Djoudj, completed in Q2 2025 and SD Waalo, which joined the fleet in Q3 2024 to support marine operations at BP’s Greater Tortue Ahmeyim (GTA) offshore project, which spans Mauritania and Senegal. Both vessels operate out of Dakar in Senegal.
These tugs have a beam of about 13 m and around 80 tonnes of bollard pull coming from two Caterpillar main diesel four-stroke, high-speed engines turning two azimuth thrusters on their stern. These engines, with combined power of 5,120 kW, are linked to selective catalytic reduction units to minimise NOx emissions from their exhaust and to comply with IMO Tier III environmental standards.
Winches are installed for ship escort and towage, a FiFi1 class fire-fighting system is fitted for emergency response, satellite communications equipment is on board, and there is space on the aft deck for various marine operations.
BP’s GTA project consists of a floating production storage and offloading vessel moored in deep water linked to a subsea system for producing and transferring gas condensates. This process removes liquids to load onto tankers from gas, which is pumped through a 35-km pipeline to a floating LNG production, storage and offloading facility, where it is transferred to LNG carriers.
Kotug says these tugs “combine excellent manoeuvrability, advanced winch systems and robust seakeeping performance, making them ideally suited for terminal support, harbour assistance, and escort duties in demanding marine environments.”
For this newbuild project, Prism Marine is supporting Uzmar with a shipyard team providing quality control, inspections, testing and commissioning services. In the Netherlands, Prism Marine helped Concordia Damen complete its latest pusher tug, TFF Anglo, before its transport to a client in South America.
Egyptian completions
In Egypt, the Suez Canal Authority welcomed the first escort tugs built in Egypt’s newest shipyard. Misr Tugboats Factory, a joint venture between the Suez Canal Authority and the South Red Sea Shipyard, launched the first two tugboats in a major newbuilding campaign in Q2 2025.
These vessels represent a significant leap in Egypt’s shipbuilding capabilities and enable the Suez Canal Authority to meet the growing demand for ship escort in the shipping canal.
AZM 1 and AZM 2 are the first two of a 10-vessel building programme and were named during a ceremony at the end of April. Misr Tugboats Factory is making progress on four other tugboats – AZM 3, AZM 4, AZM 5 and AZM 6 – with hull construction completed and mechanical and electrical works currently underway.
These 32-m tugs are being built to Robert Allan’s RAstar 3200-W design with a beam of 14 m, a draught of 6 m, a bollard pull of 90 tonnes and a top speed of 12 knots. They each have two main diesel engines from Anglo-Belgian Corp (ABC) of type V12 DZC, each rated at 2,650 kW at 1,000 rpm to turn twin Kongsberg US 255S azimuth thrusters with fixed-pitch propellers in Kort nozzles. They have a fire-fighting system run by an external engine driving separate fire pumps to propel 2,400 m3/hr.
Suez Canal Authority also has a large tugboat almost completed at Alexandria Shipyard, which, with a bollard-pull capacity of 190 tonnes, will be the authority’s largest tug and will be prepared for emergency response in Egypt.
