Towage

Their duties include assisting in the berthing and sailing of oil tankers from the jetty operated now by Repsol Ltd plus the berthing and sailing of oil tankers involved in Ship-to-Ship operations and escort duties for oil tankers arriving and departing Scapa Flow.

Overview

Towage Services is signatory to the CAST agreement (Coastguard Agreement for Salvage and Towage), and under the CAST agreement the MCA may call upon their services (subject to availability) to assist in salvage operations were a vessel is in danger of causing pollution, danger to other shipping or to assist in counter pollution duties. On occasions when the service of a tug is not required in Scapa Flow, Towage Services are available for third party usage within the area of the North of Scotland.

The three 78 tonne bollard pull tugs and their crews are also a key part of the Oil Pollution Response Contingency Plan for Scapa Flow, each tug has a crane which can be used for deploying pollution equipment as well as transporting equipment to the location of a pollution incident. Tug crews are involved in regular oil pollution training exercises with the Orkney Islands Council Department of Marine Services. The crews employed onboard the tugs are highly skilled and experienced personnel and are all certified to STCW ’95. In 2003, Towage Services achieved full compliance with the requirements of the International Safety Management Code (ISM code).

For further details on Towage Support services please contact:

Dougie Manson, Deputy Harbourmaster Operations
Harbour Authority Building, Scapa, Orkney, KW15 1SD
Tel: +44 (0)1856 873636
Fax: +44 (0)1856 873012
Email: [email protected]

Technical Information

Our towage team operates a 24 hour service in Scapa Flow with the modern fleet now consisting of the new tugs Thor, Odin and Freyja of Scapa as well as the elder Harald. Towage services are available in Scapa Flow and Kirkwall Bay 365 days a year.