Towage operator Svitzer, part of Maersk, has secured a 10-year time charter deal with FGEN LNG, a subsidiary of First Gen, for the provision of towage and other vessel support services for FGEN LNG’s interim offshore LNG terminal, which will feature floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) at the First Gen clean energy complex in Batangas City in the Philippines.

Svitzer will provide four new bollard pull tugs to assist the FSRU and LNG carriers that will deliver LNG to it, for berthing, un-berthing, navigation assistance, and provide other services, including fire-fighting, pollution control, port, and vessel security services, pilot and boarding party transfer, and fender management.

Nicolai Vinther Friis, managing director for Svitzer AMEA, said: “This important contract adds a new country to the global Svitzer portfolio and expands our ability to provide safe and efficient towage and marine services support to more customers across the globe.”

Operations are planned to begin as early as Q3 2022, when the first LNG is introduced. Svitzer said it will now take the first steps to set up operations in the Philippines, which will include hiring 72 seafarers and five onshore staff, all local Filipinos.