Business North
December/January 2016
MARINE » Thomson Towboats
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Towing power to get the job done Karen Phelps A new tug purchased by Thomson Towboats due to demand for the company’s services has broadened the scope of work the company can tackle, says Thomson Towboats owner Lance Brown. The 22 metre tug offers a 16 tonne pull, making it the most powerful offered by the company and the Azimuth tractor drive means better manoeuvrability, enhancing the safety of jobs. Lance says the new tug will be mainly used as a ship handling and harbour tug for clients such as the Royal New Zealand Navy and Stolthaven New Zealand. The addition to the fleet means that Thomson Towboats now offers a total of four tugs. Based in Auckland, Thomson Towboats is owned by Lance and wife Virginia Brown, who took over the family business in 2010. Thomson Towboats was established in 1988 by Virginia’s father Jim and her brother Mike. The company was started with just one boat providing harbour towage and workboat services within the Auckland area. Demand resulted in the company’s fleet numbers and types of vessels changing since the company was formed. Thomson Towboats offers a wide variety of services, including towage, salvage, wreck removal, project cargoes, barge hire, pilot and crew transfer, stores, fuel and fresh water delivery and dredge support. The company has one fixed contract and is available 24/7 for emergency services. Work is extremely varied from towing over dimension loads that some cargo ships find difficult and moving a house by water to towing hopper barges and removing spoil as dredges complete their job. Since 2014, the company has been towing a 72-metre bunker barge carrying 380-grade bunker fuel and gas oil for Stolthaven for ship refuelling. Thomson Towboats also offers a marine consultancy service covering areas such as tug, barge and workboat design, marine engineering and systems design, methodology and project management. “Over the years the work has changed and a lot of the everyday work the company was built up on is not there anymore. This means that we have to keep chasing work. Basically anything that floats we will tow it,” says Lance. Although the company had primarily been working in Auckland Harbour since the Browns took over the company, they have sought jobs further afield in order to expand the business. For example, in 2013 Thomson Towboats towed three vessels simultaneously from Whangarei to Noumea.
A new tug for Thomson Towboarts, below, means the Auckland-based company has been able to broaden the scope of work it does. Lately though, the company has been focusing its efforts closer to home due to market conditions, which have seen more local demand for the company’s services, such as launching and moving super yachts, sometimes transporting them on a pontoon away from the shallower harbour waters where they have been constructed to deeper water for launching. The company also has a tug stationed at Whangarei towing barges back and forth loaded with equipment for Brian Perry Civil, which is undertaking the wharf upgrade at Golden Bay Cement ship loading facility at Portland. Lance says that it is indicative of the high standing of the company that such trust is placed in it for contracts like these. He says the industry is tightly regulated, which means Thomson Towboats always has to ensure its systems and procedures are fully compliant. Thomson Towboats vessels, crew and equipment are certified for the area and type of operation to the rules, guidelines and standards of Maritime New Zealand, Flag State and any other applicable organisations. “We work closely with clients to ensure that
their Health and Safety in Employment policies are met and adhered to during the duration of their contract.” Thomson Towboats employs nine staff, with Virginia taking on the office work.
Thomson Towboats is presently completing a contract started in December 2014 at the Sandspit Marina development, which has seen Thomson Towboats so far complete 110 voyages moving around 70,000 tonnes of spoil.
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