Shipyards across the world are building tugboats with higher power as owners modernise fleets
Demand for new tugs remains high, but the growth in new orders and the global orderbook over the past five years has stabilised. The worldwide orderbook of tugs under construction rose again in 2022, to an estimated 386 tugboats at the end of June 2022, according to BRL Shipping Consultants data.
This is up from 326 tugs at the end March this year but is close to the 388 at the end of December 2021.
Orders have risen steadily in the past five years as owners turned to shipyards for tugs with higher power, to expand and modernise fleets. Port authorities expect owners to provide tugboats with more bollard pull to handle larger vessels, such as 24,000 TEU container ships, in more inclement weather.
What looked like a downturn at the end of 2021 appears to have been a temporary dip, mainly due to lower investments during the global Covid-19 pandemic.
Looking closely at tugboat orders and construction milestones, 83 tug newbuilds were ordered H1 2022. This is a conservative number, as it does not include tugboats started by shipyards for their own stock or affiliated fleets.
It is 10 tugs more than during the same period in 2021 and is higher than the 68 recorded H1 2020, indicating continued growth, but has stabilised over Q2 2022. This data comes from BRL Shipping, news reports and shipyards, but is constrained by available information.
China, Indonesia, Turkey, the US and Vietnam are the main tug-building countries, with tugs also being built in Egypt, France, Italy, Malaysia, the Netherlands, Poland and the United Arab Emirates.
In 2022, shipyards in other nations are entering the market with assistance from well-known naval architects.
An order of two harbour tugs from the Philippines Navy at Josefa Slipways in Pangasinan, the Philippines is an example of this. It laid the keel for two tugboats built to Robert Allan Ltd designs June 2022.
Another example is Astilleros ASNAV in Chile constructing a harbour tug, originally as a speculative venture, for Ultratug, with delivery expected September 2022.
Pakistan, India and Sri Lanka are building tugs with assistance from designers such as MacDuff Ship Design, for 2023 deliveries.
Shipyards can turnaround tug newbuilding orders rapidly due to their size and available designs, but many orderbooks are full. Any new orders will be 2023 completions, but some shipyards have partially completed tugs which are available to purchase for faster deliveries.
In H1 2022, 116 tugboats were delivered to owners, with 32% now operating in the Americas. The US remains a major market for newbuild tugs, pusher vessels and towboats, as cargo transport along inland waterways continues to rise and harbour fleets are upgraded.
China is also a key destination for tug newbuildings built at domestic shipyards. Around 16% of all H1 2022 worldwide deliveries are operating in east Asia, another 15% are in southeast Asia and 15% are operating in Europe.
Fifty-six tugboats were delivered Q2 2022, down from 65 in the same period 2021, a 14% fall. Tugboat deliveries worldwide have remained stable at between 50-65 per quarter since 2019.
