A new tugboat has joined Boluda’s fleet in Le Havre. It is the VB Loup, which – due to the crisis in the Red Sea, which is complicating deliveries – arrived from Vietnam directly by sea from the shipyard where it was built, rather than as a heavy cargo consignment.

It called at Singapore, Cape Town and Guinea-Bissau before docking at the Porte Océane, where it was welcomed by six of the nine tugs in Le Havre’s fleet. 

No sooner had it arrived than it set a new power record: 28 metres long, 13 metres wide and with a static pulling capacity of 81 tonnes.

Romain Bertrand points out that it had been five years since the Le Havre station had welcomed any new vessels.

“The VP Loup’s sister ship is expected in Le Havre in 2025,” he adds. These tugs are more powerful and wider, fitted with engines that meet the new standards for nitrogen oxide emissions.

But the VB Loup is also the vessel with the greatest towing capacity in France. The teams from the Damen shipyard will remain in Le Havre for several weeks to train the crews from Normandy and carry out trials before commencing towing operations.

Romain Bertrand explains: “Le Havre is ahead of Marseille with three major client types: container ships, oil tankers and chemical tankers, as well as ro-ro vessels.” The crews, comprising four people including the captain, will have to cope with the doubling of TIL MSC’s container traffic in Le Havre, as announced by the group in 2022.

Source: Paris Normandie 3 September 2024 / Photo: Le Marin – Ouest France