SL Ports Authority buys, hires tugs

Tenders being evaluated to charter two tugs:

By Chandani Jayatilleke

The Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA), which has an aging fleet of tugs, is getting two new tugs built in China to service the merchant ships calling at its ports and is evaluating a tender to charter two tugs until the new boats are delivered.

The two, 65-tonne Bollard Pull tugs being built in China were launched recently and will be delivered in February 2017 and then the SLPA fleet will be complete, SLPA officials said.

The SLPA’s existing fleet of six tugs are all 12 or more years old with two, over 20 years old, and all with 40-55 Bollard Pull, a measure of their towing or pulling power. It has also chartered a newer Indian tug of 65-tonne Bollard Pull.

Colombo port’s private sector customers say they are concerned about the ability of the SLPA to deliver the required service with old tugs given the increasing size of container vessels. Mega container carriers with 15-18,000 TEUs (twenty foot container equivalent units) now call at the Colombo Port, compared with earlier ships which carried only 5-6,000 TEUs.

A tender to hire two, 65-tonne Bollard Pull tugs has just closed and bids are being evaluated, along with complaints about the tender, SLPA Chairman Dammika Ranatunga said in an interview with the Business Observer.

“We are in the evaluation process. There is a committee that is appointed by the Cabinet which is evaluating the tender. There were a few complaints that came through – we have passed that information to the relevant committee to look into it. Every time you do a tender there are complaints coming in. But we want to make sure we follow a transparent process, we listen to all complaints.”

The specifications of the tugs are finalized by the SLPA’s Harbour Masters division along with the marine engineers, he said.

He said tugs of 65 tonne Bollard Pull are “quite sufficient for us to maneuver the ships we get - they are big tugs and we use two tugs per ship. This tender is for Colombo port only and for one year. We want to look at the option of extending it to another year.”

Ranatunga said the SLPA’s decision to go for a long term hire was a financially good model as a longer term charter would be cheaper than paying for tug hire n a daily basis.

“We temporarily hired a tug for about six months with an extension and we saved about 1,000 dollars a day – having private tugs opposed to using our own – as our own tugs cost more. Most of our tugs are aged.”

He also said chartering offers some advantages over owning vessels as they can be hired at competitive rates and the vessel maintenance is the responsibility of the owners, not the SLPA’s. SLPA officials said chartering tugs with a bigger pulling power such as 70 tonne Bollard Pull would be more expensive and then the SLPA will have to pay more.

Private sector sources noted that other big container ports like Singapore and Rotterdam employ bigger tugs, often hired from private companies.

“Other ports are serviced by private companies that analyse growth and potential market changes and make necessary investments to maintain a high standard of tug service to the customers,” one source said.

“This is a very important factor when considering attracting prominent liner services to Colombo. It illustrates that Colombo is well equipped to give its upmost to ensure the safety and efficiency of port operations,” he said.

“It is critical for vessels calling Colombo to be served with right assets in order to have quicker turnaround time so the vessels can reach the other port faster. Due to older tonnage the power generated by these tugs is lot lesser and hence it creates delay in the port. Most of the major ports around the globe are working towards modernization of the port so that the vessel owner gets the best service possible.

“Since the vessel sizes are increasing along with the volume of cargo they carry, it is important for all the ports to have stronger service vessels.” The source said the SLPA tender to charter two 65 tonne Bollard Pull tugs could mean it is being exposed to continued changes in the tug charter rate due to the short term charter.

“With most top ports upgrading to 75 tonne Bollard Pull and above tugs, Colombo stands to lose its position as port of preference. Indian ports are chartering tugs for five years minimum and going with higher BP tugs to mitigate risk at later stages.”