Sri Lanka Shipping wins special commendation at ITS Awards for support in handling of X-Press Pearl

At the International Tug and Salvage (ITS) 2024 awards Sri Lanka Shipping Co. (SLSC) was recognised with a special commendation for its support in handling of the X-Press Pearl container vessel salvage, mitigating further ecological impact and for sustaining crewing levels through dedicated welfare schemes. 

SLSC was the first responder, but continued to assisted Shanghai Salvage who were the main salvage contractor for the Xpress Pearl disaster. SLSC handled 75% of port calls in Colombo, Sri Lanka, during the recent economic crisis and set a record for the longest tow, of 4,000 nautical miles from Gabon to UAE.

The ITS 2024 awards at the Riviera Maritime Media’s 27th International Tug and Salvage (ITS) Convention and Exhibition in Dubai, UAE, on 23 May 2024 recognised outstanding vessels, operators, innovators and professionals that raised the bar for safety, sustainability and operational excellence in the past 12 months.

Companies, tugs and products were nominated, and a shortlist was generated and offered to the public vote, with the winner gaining the largest number of votes, making an ITS Award a meaningful achievement and testament to operational excellence.

Boluda Towage won the Tug Owner of the Year Award, sponsored by tug owner and builder Med Marine, for its strategic acquisitions, and fleet modernisation and expansion programme. Boluda is investing in methanol and other alternative fuels and implementing sensor systems on its tugs to monitor fuel and enhance efficiency.

Other shortlisted nominees for the ITS Tug Owner of the Year Award were:

Kotug International for its innovative emissions-free electric inland tugs, tug scheduling tools and expansion into offshore and terminal towage; SAAM Towage for its adoption of battery-powered tugs leading to more than 2,400 tonnes of annual CO2 reductions; McAllister Towing for investing in powerful, low-emissions support tugs, restoring habitats beyond compliance requirements and cutting emissions intensity by 40% over 15 years; and P&O Maritime Logistics for its investment in new ASD and tractor tugs and plans to invest significantly in biofuels, efficient engines and emissions monitoring.

HaiSea Marine’s LNG dual-fuel escort tug HaiSea Kermode was acclaimed as ITS Tug of the Year with owner, designer (Robert Allan Ltd.) and builder (Sanmar Shipyards) receiving awards, sponsored by classification society Bureau Veritas.

This 40-m tug will escort gas carriers along the world’s longest piloted route of 159 nautical miles, using LNG fuel and aftertreatment equipment to minimise NOx and particulate matter.

It has 105 tons of bollard pull and more than 175 tonnes of indirect escort forces, making it one of the most powerful escort tugs worldwide, with the ABS ENVIRO+ notation and a range of 6,200 nautical miles.

Other shortlisted nominees were Crowley Maritime’s eWolf, the first fully electric, zero-emissions tug in the US; BOTAŞ Petroleum Pipeline Corp’s Sultanhani, the first Voith-propelled LNG dual-fuel tractor tug built by Uzmar Shipyard and designed by Robert Allan Ltd. (RAL); SAAM Towage’s battery-electric harbour tug SAAM Volta, built by Sanmar Shipyards and designed by RAL; Cheoy Lee Shipyards-built Svitzer Bilby, with hybrid propulsion optimising new Cat 3516E engines for a 40% reduction in carbon intensity; and Signet Maritime’s 32-m Rotortug Signet Sirius, with 97 tonnes of steering and 143 tonnes of braking escort forces.