The Fratelli Neri Group is pressing its foot on the accelerator of renewal for its fleet of tugboats.
The latest news in chronological order is the arrival at the port of Livorno for the ‘christening’ ceremony, which will be celebrated on the upcoming November 7 at the group’s shipyard, of a new 100-tonne Bollard Pull Ahtsv (Anchor Handling Tug Supply Vessel) just purchased and renamed Nos Leo (the former name was Nor Solan). This is a 2015 offshore vessel just purchased to be employed off the coast of Sicily with tasks of assisting Eni’s extraction platforms but also with fire-fighting and anti-pollution functions.
The vessel’s name combines the acronym Nos (Neri Offshore Service) with Leo, paying homage to a family tradition that links the names of the naval units to the zodiac signs of the members of the Neri family. The new contract with Eni, signed at the end of the summer, marks an important international agreement for the Livorno-based group, already active in the offshore sector with other clients. The Nos Leo more precisely will be employed in assisting Eni platforms off the coast of Licata and Gela.
Nos Leo, until now employed by its previous owner in Northern Europe in the Shetland Islands area, will now fly the Italian flag and have a fully national crew; after the christening ceremony in Livorno from mid-November it will officially enter service for Eni.
This new entry for Fratelli Neri is in addition to the recent agreement signed by president Piero Neri in Egypt with Misr Tugboats Factory for the purchase of two Rastar 3200-W model tugboats with 90 tonnes of Bollard pull and an Asd (Azimuth stern drive) propulsion system. The company Misr Tugboats Factory is an industrial entity of Egypt Yachts, in turn a partnership between the Suez Canal Authority and the South Red Sea Shipyard.
Not by chance, Admiral Ossama Rabiee, president and managing director of the Suez Canal Authority, attended in Ismailia the signing ceremony of the construction contract between the shipyard (represented by Mostafa El-Dougishy, chief executive officer of Egypt Yachts) and the Fratelli Neri group, with Admiral Ashraf Atwa, vice president of the Suez Canal Authority, also in attendance, together with some members of the board of directors and senior officials of the Suez Canal Authority, and engineer Hassan Kamal, vice president of Egypt Yachts.
A note from the Suez Canal Authority (Sca) explains that “Admiral Rabiee emphasized how this contract is considered a testimony of trust that reflects the success of the Sca’s efforts in localizing maritime industries and in elevating the slogan ‘Made in Egypt’ to a world-class quality, higher and through broader horizons open to the entire world”. According to Rabiee the start of exports abroad marks a new and unprecedented achievement, which returns leadership to national shipyards and contributes to their return to regional competition. He further stressed that Misr Tugboats Factory has presented a successful model of partnership with the private sector and has managed to reach its strategic goals by exporting abroad in a record time of no more than a year and a half”.
The delivery of these two tugboats ordered by F.lli Neri “is expected in the first quarter of next year, God willing, – the note states – parallel to the ongoing construction of the class tugboats for the Suez Canal Authority.
This is in addition to the project to build 12 deep-sea fishing vessels equipped with the most modern fishing systems, rapid cleaning and freezing technologies, and a large storage capacity.
On this occasion, Piero Neri, president of the like-named Livorno-based group, expressed satisfaction with the conclusion of the contract with the Suez Canal Authority, which represents the beginning of a joint collaboration between the two parties; the hope is that in the near future, further collaboration can be seen through new projects and contracts that meet the needs of the Neri Group.
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