Kotug Canada, a partnership between Netherlands-based towage company Kotug International and Canada's Horizon Maritime, recently held a ceremony to mark the laying of the keel of two new escort tugs that will be powered by methanol propulsion systems.
Designed by Canadian naval architecture firm Robert Allan Ltd (RAL), the tugs will service the Trans Mountain Expansion Project that will transport crude and refined products via pipeline from Alberta to British Columbia. Deliveries of the vessels are scheduled to commence by the middle of 2025.
The 44-metre tugs will escort tankers from the harbour limits of the Port of Vancouver to the open Pacific Ocean through the commercial shipping lanes of the Salish Sea. To provide this service, Kotug Canada has partnered with the Sc'ianew First Nation from Beecher Bay, strategically located along the shipping route.
The tugs will be named SD Aisemaht and SD Qwii-Aan'c Sarah in honour of two notable figures of the Sc'ianew First Nation.
