Last month at the annual Damen Maritime Festival in the Netherlands, Sri Lanka Shipping Company, a subsidiary of Advantis Group, and Damen Shipyards signed a contract for the delivery of two new ASD Tug 2312 tugboats. This is the first time that the two organizations have done business together, and the vessels are already being built at Damen’s Song Cam Shipyard in Vietnam.

Sri Lanka Shipping Company chose the ASD Tug 2312 based on its outstanding performance as the most versatile vessel in its class. Just 23 meters in length, it delivers up to 70 tonnes of bollard pull while the patented Twin Fin skeg plus twin Azimuth thrusters ensure excellent maneuverability. Sri Lanka Shipping Company has also opted for Damen’s Triton remote monitoring system on both vessels. These deliver a wide range of real-time performance information including fuel consumption and carbon emissions to the shore-side team as well as the ships’ crew.

The vessels will be delivered in mid-2024 as they are already under construction at Damen Song Cam Shipyard in Vietnam. This is due to Damen’s policy of building its best-selling vessels in series to minimize delivery times. They will join the company’s existing three anchor handling tugs and the harbour tugs and will represent a significant increase in capability. They will operate primarily in the South Asian and South-East Asian regions.

For Sri Lanka Shipping Company the contract was signed by Deputy Managing Director of Advantis Group Shano Sabar, and Director/CEO of Sri Lanka Shipping Company Surindha de Abrew, followed by Damen CEO Arnout Damen and Damen’s Regional Sales Director Asia Pacific Rabien Bahadoer.

Speaking on behalf of Advantis Group and Sri Lanka Shipping Company, Shano Sabar commented; “The ASD Tugs from Damen Shipyards excel in both quality and delivery time. In addition, our management team holds a strong belief that our choice of Damen for our tugs will enable us to elevate our service to the highest standards for our valued customers.”

“We are honored to welcome Sri Lanka Shipping Company into the Damen family,” added Rabien Bahadoer. “They reviewed all the options available before choosing our successful ASD Tug 2312. As well as the patented Twin Fin skeg, the advanced design features a centralized double drum winch that can be operated over either the foredeck or the aft deck. In addition, the tugs also meet the latest standards for increased crew comfort during towage operations, with the COMF-NOISE 3 and COMF-VIB 3 Class notation.”

Once they are delivered, the tugs will have 24/7 access to Damen’s comprehensive support services via Damen’s South-East Asia’s Service Hubs in Vietnam, Sharjah and Bangladesh.