Several tug owners have ordered newbuildings from global and regional builders in response to rising demand for harbour support and ship escort as more energy terminals are built
Rising demand for high-bollard pull harbour and escort tugs has driven owners to order series of newbuilds from shipyards worldwide. Many of the recent contracts were signed at Riviera’s 28th ITS Convention in Gothenburg, Sweden, in May 2026, when owners and shipbuilders revitalised their relations.
Damen Shipyards, Sanmar Shipyards and ASENAV hosted contract-signing ceremonies in the convention’s exhibition space, demonstrating demand for different designs of harbour tugboats.
All of the contracts were for tugboats with twin diesel engines and azimuth thrusters, including from an owner known for investing in green vessels running on alternative fuels and batteries.
HaiSea Marine signed contracts for two newbuild azimuth stern drive (ASD) tugboats from Damen Shipyards and one 40-m escort tug from Sanmar to support LNG carriers docking at a terminal in western Canada.
Damen Song Cam Shipyard, in Vietnam will build two 388-gt tugs to Damen’s ASD 2813 design for the joint venture between the Haisla Nation and Seaspan ULC.
These 28-m tugs will have a beam of 13 m, a draught of nearly 4 m, a bollard pull of up to 70 tonnes and twin four-stroke diesel engines prepared for IMO Tier III emissions compliance.
They will have capacity to store 89.2 m3 of diesel, accommodation for 10 people, a FiFi1-class firefighting system and a package for operations during winter conditions.
Sanmar will build a 997-gt vessel to Robert Allan Ltd’s RAstar 4000 design, with two four-stroke, IMO Tier III-compliant, diesel main engines, a beam of 16 m and a bollard pull of up to 100 tonnes.
It will have a navigational draught of 7 m, a full speed of 14.5 knots, capacity to store 357 m3 of diesel, maximum accommodation for nine workers, but a regular complement of six or seven crew members.
