Danish shipowner Esvagt has sold the Esvagt Gamma and the Esvagt Promotor vessels for recycling.
Esvagt said on Tuesday that the final voyage for the vessels would be to the Fornaes Ship Recycling in Grenå, Denmark.
The company added that it wanted to use an approved Danish recycling yard for the job and would be delivering both vessels to their final destination.
Kim Roesdahl Petersen , fleet manager at Esvagt, said: “Esvagt Gamma’s last job will be to tow the Esvagt Promotor to Grenå. This is the kind of job the Esvagt Gamma has been performing up to now, so it is the obvious solution.
“We are removing any items of value that are not essential for the voyage to Grenå. When the vessel arrives, we will remove the last items.”
Svitzer gained the owner’s share of Esvagt at the beginning of the 1990’s, and one of the vessels transferred to its fleet was the Promotor while the Esvagt Gamma was the first vessel in the company’s fleet to offer more than standby and supply services.
Ole Ditlev Nielsen , business development manager of Esvagt, said: “With the Esvagt Gamma, Esvagt started working in completely new business areas. We moved from ensuring people’s safety to also supporting production, for example, hose handling, front-line oil spill contingency, emergency towing of tankers – tasks that were critical for the business.
“The Esvagt Gamma became a springboard for other similar tasks, and as such for Esvagt’s first new build in 1999 that was specialized to perform a new type of service.”
Apart from its daily duties, the Gamma was involved in several rescue operations, the most notable being the rescue of the M/V Schieborg in 2005 where the vessel, with the help of the Esvagt Omega, saved the lives of 15 people.
Esvagt Gamma is a 64.65 meter-long, 13.80 meter-wide, tug supply and oil recovery vessel built in 1985 while the Esvagt Promotor is a 35.19 meter-long, 6.60 meter-wide special service/standby rescue vessel built in 1965 in Rosslau, Germany, and upgraded in 2013.