Antwerp Towage celebrates tenth anniversary

Harbour towage specialist Antwerp Towage marked its tenth anniversary on 6 September with a ceremony at Waterfront Bar & Resto in Antwerp which was attended by many prominent industry representatives and port users.

Antwerp Towage NV was established in 2008 as a joint-venture between leading towage and salvage service providers Fairplay Towage and Multraship Towage & Salvage. It provides ship owners and operators with competitive harbour towage services at all river terminals and locks along the River Scheldt in the port of Antwerp, co-ordinating its state-of-the-art operations from dedicated offices at Tavernierkaai.

Antwerp Towage general manager Robert Van Hees says, “Starting a new venture in towage ten years ago was arguably a less daunting prospect than it would be today. But it still required a leap of faith, and a commitment to investment in hardware and manpower, based on the conviction that we could provide an improved and more competitive service to the users of the Port of Antwerp than was available to them at that time.

“Ten years on, we believe we have achieved that objective, and established Antwerp Towage as a highly respected brand in its specialist area of operation. The fact that we have been able to do that is due mainly to the hard work and dedication of our workforce, and to the loyalty of our customers, some of whom have been with us since the beginning.

“Harbour towage in Europe is a fiercely competitive sector, and we must expect clients to come and go and - in some cases - to come back again. That has certainly been the case over the past decade, and we expect it to continue in the future. The important thing is that users of the Port of Antwerp have continued access to competitive, quality harbour towage services.

“Ten years is a long time in shipping. We look forward to the next ten as we continue to give users of the Port of Antwerp the service they want and deserve.”