Situated in the exotic isle of Curaçao, KTK Tugs has been busy building partnerships with its neighbouring islands: Aruba and Bonaire. Managing Director Surldric Rojer explained how this was being achieved and shared an update on the company’s current operations, in a report by Imogen Ward.
KTK Tugs is a virtuoso of tug char tering within the Caribbean Sea. Taking a hands-on approach with clients and employees, the company provides nothing short of perfection when it comes to customer service.
“We understand the importance of being in constant contact with our
customers,” Managing Director Surldric Rojer said. “We visit them regularly to discuss the performance of our tugboats and crew, and to work out how we can further our impact with these companies as an added-value member of their operations.”
The company is responsible for all deep seaport operations in Curaçao, including harbour towage, mooring, launching and pilot transportation. With almost 40 years’ experience, KTK is a highly experienced tug operator and, as a state-owned company, it maintains a strong commitment to the local community, ensuring the conservation of Curaçao Island through the encouragement of sustainable practices.
ABC Islands
It has been several years since KTK’s last feature with Inside Marine: since then the company has been exceptionally busy forming crucial partnerships with the nearby Leeward Antilles islands Aruba and Bonaire.
Following a long-lasting relationship between Curaçao and Bonaire, KTK has signed a five-year long concession with the Public Entity of Bonaire to ensure KTK’s subsidiary, KTB Tugs, provides continuous towage services in the island’s ports. KTB was founded back in 2018, with the aim of giving Bonaire its own tug service.
Following the successful concession, tug OLA (under the ownership of KTK) will be based in Bonaire. “We entered into discussions with Bonaire, to decipher whether we could work within the island’s ports,” Mr Rojer explained. “We negotiated back and forth and decided to position a tugboat in Bonaire, on the condition tha t this boat could be shared with Curaçao if KTK’s other vessels required extra assistance. The concession is for a long period, and we hope that we will witness harbour traffic in Bonaire start to increase again.
“It is important to note also that due to Bonaire’s harbour restrictions, most prod ucts imported into Bonaire are first shipped in bigger vessels to Curaçao, and then offloaded and shipped into smaller boats to Bonaire. The island is currently
working towards improving its facilities and enlarging its pier, which will allow larger vessels to come to Bonaire. We expect this to happen in the next three years, which will provide a good founda tion for Bonaire’s continued economic growth and of course the business of KTB.”
Benefits of e-tugs
With electric power propulsion a hot topic in the maritime industry, KTK has been considering the future of this system. “We have recently started a feasibility study with Damen, to see if an e-tug would be practical for Curaçao,” Mr Rojer said. “We are now in the preliminary phase – assessing data which has been gathered over two months. The movements of one of our tugs were monitored, alongside its travelling distance, power usage and fuel consumption. This data was then put into a model to
highlight the benefits of replacing a diesel engine with electric propulsion.
“This would be a good investment, which would help us improve our carbon footprint. We are headed in the right direction, moving towards completing the preliminary phase and considering the practicality of financing an e-tug. If it does go ahead, then we expect the project to be finalised in the next two years.”
If successful, the company will look to invest in an e-tug as a replacement for the oldest tugboat in the fleet. The LIMA II, which was commissioned in 1997, is on the list to be replaced, and KTK is currently deciding whether this tug will be replaced by another conventional vessel or whether to take the leap into electric propulsion.
The company is also investing in preventative maintenance programmes
“WE WILL ALWAYS PRIORITISE OUR CUSTOMERS, AND OUR AIM TO HAVE A STRONGER MARKET PRESENCE WILL ENABLE US TO BETTER SERVE THEM”
and implementing more modern software to update its current maintenance structure.
Curaçao’s chartering
The company has also reduced its vessel capacity down to six. After initially placing ORCA VI – originally KTK’s biggest vessel – into warm lay-up during the pandemic, the company felt it did not receive enough charters to warrant keeping it. This was, in part, due to the ship’s large size and KTK’s main focus on harbour towage charter contracts. “We decided to sell ORCA VI to a Greek com pany in July, last year, which reduced our capacity to six vessels,” Mr Rojer said. “We are now operating very efficiently with a reduced fleet.”
Another objective on KTK’s agenda was the development of international chartering. The company has been extremely successful in accomplishing this and currently has two ships located in Trinidad & Tobago –KTK MERO and KTK TRIBON – the company’s KTK BARAKUDA is assigned to Aruba and OLA is currently working in Bonaire.
The remaining two tugs (LIMA II and MANTA) are assigned to Curaçao. “Four of our six tugs are working in international waters, which is great. We also have six smaller vessels in our fleet which are pilot boats,” Mr Rojer explained. “They are mainly operating in our local waters.”
Two of the smaller vessels, type Stan tug 1205s, will be deployed this summer to Bonaire and St Eustatius respectively, where they will form part of the Emergency Response Service small spills (TIER-1) of the Caribbean Netherlands
KTK Tugs is on schedule with all its goals, and, as a result of strengthening partnerships, has noticed other companies taking interest. “We are actually being approached by other companies wanting to partner with us,” Mr Rojer s aid. “Our partnerships with neighbouring islands have helped make us attractive to other companies. However; We are still heavily focused on deepening the relationships with our current partners, and we are looking forward to seeing what we can do together.
“Currently, our plans are to continue what we are doing and consolidate our operations in neighbouring islands and maintain our position in the markets where we are present now. We will always prioritise our customers, and our aim to have a stronger market presence will enable us to better serve them.” n
