Photo: Pär-Henrik Sjöström

New markets in harbour towing

Finland:
As the market for harbour towing has declined during the last few decades in Finland, the largest tug owner Alfons Håkans aims at expanding abroad. Last year, a subsidiary was established in Estonia, and the next step may be entering the Latvian market.

This year, 60 years has passed since the foundation of the Finnish shipping company Alfons Håkans Ltd. The company was founded by the entrepreneur Alfons Håkans in 1945 and still carries his name. The company is now run by his son Stefan Håkans and his grandson Joakim Håkans.

Less need for towing
In the “good old days”, the early 1960’s, when Alfons Håkans moved his business from Vasa to Turku, his tug Fart (Swedish for ‘speed’) commonly had an average of four to eight towing missions a day.
– Today, we would hardly have that many missions during a month in the Turku region, explains Master Mariner Joakim Håkans.
The reason for that is quite simple. The Finnish shipyards used to be important customers, needing towing services at launchings, sea trials and deliveries. There also were many tramp vessels calling at the ports of Turku and Naantali (Nådendal) and, in general, vessels in those days lacked bow thrusters and were rather difficult to manoeuvre.

– It was more of a rule than an exception that a vessel needed tugging when entering or leaving a port, says Mr Håkans.
Today, the situation is totally different. The few remaining shipyards deliver one or two newbuildings a year. High pilotage and fairway dues have decreased the calls of tramp vessels in many ports and virtually all vessels calling at Finnish ports on a more or less regular basis do not normally need assistance from tugs.
– Today, harbour towage is regarded as a safety issue, says Mr Håkans.
He takes the port of Hanko (Hangö) as an example:
– Normally, no vessel needs to be assisted by tugs in the port of Hanko, but with wind speeds of 15 m/s, almost every vessel requires a tug.

	The newbuilding “Calypso” at work in the port of Muuga. Photo: Alfons Håkans

Rationalisation
The lack of a steady workload in Finland gradually became a problem for Alfons Håkans. In the late 1980’s, the company grew fast and gradually established bases for tugs all along the Finnish coast. At the same time, the activities were rationalised to make use of economies of scale. In the 1990’s, the company had some 30 tugs based in Finland, but not all of them were constantly manned. In a number of key ports there were tugs ready for duty on a short notice, to the other ports the crew was transported by car.

Despite rationalisation and a streamlined organisation, there quite simply was not enough work in Finland. In 2004, Alfons Håkans established the subsidiary Alfons Hakans OÜ in Estonia and based four tugs in that country. The number of Estonian-based tugs has gradually increased, and today the company has eight tugs there. They are operating in the ports of Muuga, Tallinn and Paldiski. Among these are the newest acquisitions in the fleet, the stern drive tug Calypso and the twins Helios and Pallas. The Calypso is a newbuilding and the other two were bought second-hand from the Netherlands.
The company operates in Estonia in the same way as in Finland. All of the tugs are not manned all the time, but when needed the crews are transported to unmanned tugs by car.

Enough capacity
The large number of tugs based in Estonia has been dictated by the demands of the market.
– On an average, we have at least one assistance a day for each tug, Mr Håkans explains.
He thinks it is very important that the customer should not have to wait for long for towage. If necessary, additional towing capacity can be acquired from Helsinki or Hanko. The crossing of the Gulf of Finland only takes a couple of hours.
In a little more than a year, Alfons Hakans has conquered a market share of some 40 per cent of the towing activities in Estonia. For example in the port of Paldiski, almost all of the harbour towing is provided by Alfons Hakans.
According to Joakim Håkans, many actors on the shipping scene were pleased to have some competition in the towing market of Estonia.
– The most important key to our success has been our ability to offer a good service to the customers. This has been made possible by our competent and motivated personnel, Håkans says praising his new Estonian employees.

	Joakim Håkans.

Muuga the most important
Especially in Muuga, there is a great demand for towage services. Most of the tankers and bulk carriers calling at the port are not equipped with bow thrusters. The tugs usually apply the push/pull method, whereby two tugs are moored to the same side of the vessel; one to the spring hawse in the bow and the other to the stern spring hawse. This enables the tugs to act as thrusters for the large vessel.
– This way of towing demands either a stern drive or tractor tugs, equipped with azimuthing thrusters, says Mr Håkans.
Other kinds of vessels regularly need tug assistance, too. For example, Alfons Hakans perform a remarkable part – up to 70 per cent – of the towing of cruise vessels visiting the port of Tallinn. In Helsinki, too, this is an important activity during the summer season.
– Sometimes it gets really busy, as there may be many cruise vessels in different parts of the port of Helsinki at the same time. They all arrive at about the same time in the morning and also leave at the same time in the evening, says Mr Håkans.

A newbuilding
Alfons Håkans has come to the Estonian market to stay. The future plans for developing the activities in Estonia include ordering a newbuilding.
– We need an icebreaking stern drive tug with 50–55 tons of bollard pull. The ice class means that it is not possible to order a standard type of tug e.g. from the Netherlands, explains Mr Håkans. Every tug involving an ice class is a unique project and has to be designed from a scratch.
Joakim Håkans also thinks that the other Baltic states form an interesting market. He mentions in particular the ports of Riga and Ventspils in Latvia. But what about Russia?
– At this stage, we are not interested in entering the Russian market, he states.
Other activities expanding
In Finland, the market for harbour towing is stable, but there is no expansion in sight. This is why the company is developing the other areas of its activities at the domestic market. In addition to harbour towing, Alfons Håkans is also active in bulk shipments by barge, salvage and icebreaking.

The fleet consists of some 30 tugs. The largest and most powerful is the Zeus, which mainly is deployed as an anchor handling tug in the oil fields of the North Sea. The Zeus is also an icebreaker and can be deployed in the Baltic Sea during the winter. In 2003, for example, the Zeus was chartered by the Estonian maritime administration to handle icebreaking off the Estonian coast.
Further, Alfons Håkans owns several deck barges towed by the company's own tugs. The company is developing the logistical part of the business within this sector.
– We are aiming at offering the customers complete shipments, including cargo handling and lashing, says Mr Håkans.

//Pär-Henrik Sjöström