Aligning towage with wider maritime industry

relying on their towage service provider to smooth out disruption caused by other factors.

The quality of towage service is therefore critical, as even small delays in tug or towage services can mean that vessels are left waiting for hours, which has a further knock-on effect further down the supply chain.

Growing pressures for sustainable operations

To overcome the commoditisation of towage and differentiate their service, operators must embark on a journey of transformation. This entails expanding towage offerings in line with the issues that most concern their customers today – namely, the green transition.

There has been a significant market shift towards green solutions across the maritime industry, with ship owners, operators and charterers looking at taking measures to reduce emissions – from retrofitting their fleets to more sustainable newbuilds, digital technologies and new, low or zero-carbon fuels.

They are also rightly looking at their partners and suppliers to help them manage the transition, with towage customers increasingly demanding more sustainable services.

Building and scaling solutions for future green ports is a great way for operators to show they can deliver sustainable services that enable customers to reduce their overall environmental footprint – for example, initiatives like Svitzer’s EcoTow product, which replaces marine gas oil with biofuel, providing a tank to wake carbon neutral service.

In a complex market, aligning its sustainable practices with the wider maritime industry is the best way for the towage sector to thrive in today’s market. Operators have a responsibility to recognise the wider trends that are important to the industry and engage with them to ensure they are not left behind. Identifying ways to contribute to decarbonisation will be critical – either through more efficient vessels, more efficient operations, lower carbon fuels or a combination of the three. Important and influential customers will only increase their demand for partners that are willing and able to help them achieve their climate objectives by providing more sustainable services across the supply chain.