Smit Lamnalco has teamed up with Australian port operations provider Engage Marine to form a new towage joint venture.
Engage Towage, as the new venture has been named, has operations in Port Jackson and the Port of Geelong utilising five modern azimuth-drive tugs.
Port Geelong, which is southwest of Melbourne, claims to be the second largest port in Victoria, handling over 10.5 million tonnes of product annually, including crude oil, petroleum, woodchips, fertiliser and break bulk cargo such as steel and timber.
The scope of the joint venture is specific to providing increased choice in the Australian harbour towage market, Smit Lamnalco said.
The existing businesses of Smit Lamnalco and Engage Marine will continue to operate independently from this newly formed joint venture.
“Since launching Engage Marine in 2016, we have continually emphasised our focus on strategic partnerships and contemporary labour models,” said Engage Marine Group chief executive Mark Malone.
“Engage Towage is a direct result of these ambitions and the joint venture will continue our ‘skin in the game’ approach.”
Smit Lamnalco chief executive Stanley Maas, said “we are a global oil and gas marine service provider with the ambition to further develop our position within the harbour towage market.
“We believe the Australian towage industry is significant enough for multiple towage companies to co-exist, and ultimately, competition encourages all operators to continuously improve on their service delivery.
“We see this joint venture as being beneficial to clients and industry, as well as part of our own strategic growth ambition.”
