Multraship Towage & Salvage named two Damen-built tugs at a Christening ceremony held at Multraship’s home port of Terneuzen, the Netherlands.

Multratug 5, a Damen Stan Tug 1205 and Multratug 6, a Damen ASD Tug 2810, were immediately entered into service upon delivery to Multraship and are currently in operation in the River Scheldt area. The speed with which the tugs were delivered was thanks to Damen’s practice of building in series and for stock – a feature that Multraship, as a long-term client of Damen’s – has long benefitted from.

Although based on proven, standard designs, Damen is able to tailor its vessels to the requirements of ­its clients. In the case of Multratug 6, this included a winterisation package, FiFi-1 class notation and installation of an aft winch, amongst many other additional features.

Multratug 6 also has the distinction of being the last Damen ASD Tug 2810 ever to be built. Following the sale of over 200 vessels, the ASD Tug 2810 is Damen’s most successful design to date and can be found operating in harbours all around the world.

Captain Leendert Muller, Managing Director, Multraship, commented at the ceremony: “We work hard to ensure that our fleet reflects the needs and requirements of our customers and that we are best equipped to provide rapid, reliable and safe towage and salvage services at any time. For this, we need to have high-quality tugs with a range of operational capabilities. We know we can rely on Damen to meet our specifications and deliver high-spec vessels and we are very pleased to formally welcome Multratug 5 and Multratug 6 to our fleet.”

The naming ceremony was attended by a number of guests on behalf of Damen including Mijndert Wiesenekker, sales director Benelux, and Vincent Maes, sales manager Benelux.

Mr Maes said, “It’s a pleasure to be here to witness this special occasion. The event is made even more poignant with Multratug 6 being the last ASD Tug 2810 to be delivered. The design of the tug, like all vessels in our portfolio, has been developed with lots of valuable input from our clients. Multraship, as a long-standing customer of many years, has provided with us many useful insights that have been incorporated into the evolution of our tugs. We’re grateful to enjoy this relationship of mutual benefit and look forward to continuing our collaboration in the years ahead.”

The vessels were delivered to Multraship during a period of wider fleet expansion, with the company also adding two ERTVs, Multraship Commander and Multraship Protector, as well as the Multrasalvor 6, a Damen Multi Cat and salvage support vessel along with another Damen harbour tug, Multratug 9, over the past year.

Multraship is a division of the Muller Maritime Group, which has been engaged in the shipping industry for more than 230 years. Multraship’s core activities include harbour towage, salvage & wreck removal, ocean towage and support to offshore energy & dredging industries.