Sharjah Ports Authority gets first ASD tug boat

01/12/2015 06:05 AST

Sharjah Ports Authority has taken delivery of a Damen ASD Tug 2411, named AL LUOLO’AYA from Damen Shipyards recently.

Shaikh Khaled Bin Abdullah Bin Sultan Al Qasimi, Chairman of the Department of Seaports and Customs, Hamriyah Free Zone Authority (HFZA) and Sharjah Airport International Free Zone (SAIF Zone), presided over the ceremony that was held at Damen Shipyards in Hamriyah Free Zone.

Sheikh Khaled also toured and inspected the tug boat after the ceremony. Mohamed Meer Abdelrehman Al-Sarrah, Director of Seaports and Customs; Saud Salim Al Mazrouei, Director of Hamriyah Free Zone Authority, and SAIF Zone; Lars Seistrup, Managing Director of Damen Shipyard and other officials were present.

The tug was built at Damen Shipyards Sharjah, which is located in the Hamriyah Free Zone and is one of three ports owned and operated by Sharjah Ports Authority.

With a 68.5 tonne bollard pull ahead, the Damen ASD Tug 2411 will be deployed at the Port Khor Fakkan.

The ASD Tug is also fully equipped with FiFi 1 and water spraying notation. Khor Fakkan is one of the leading container transhipment ports and the new tug allows the port to handle even larger container vessels.

Pascal Slingerland, Damen Sales Manager Middle East, commented: “The ASD Tugs are highly manoeuverable and powerful and ideally suited to operations in Khor Fakkan. We are extremely proud to have built this vessel ‘in Sharjah and for Sharjah’ according to the world’s highest shipbuilding standards.

We have built some 70 Damen ASD Tugs 2411 over the years and a large number of these vessels are operating very successfully here in the UAE.” The Government of Sharjah’s Department of Seaports and Customs has recently entered into a sister ports agreement with the US-based Canaveral Port Authority of Florida.

The signing ceremony was held in the presence of independent port operator Gulftainer, which recently expanded its operations in the US, with a new concession at Port Canaveral.

The Gulf Today