Since September 28, 2023 when its Canadian registry was closed I have been waiting for news on the disposition of the tug Duga. So far there has been no information forthcoming except that it has registered in Bolivia (a land locked country!) and has been sold to foreign buyers, perhaps in Mexico.
Groupe Océan acquired the tug when they purchased Les Remorqueurs de Trois-Rivières in 2002, and the tug remained stationed in that port until it was moved to Quebec City and laid up in July of this year.
Construction of the tug was started by Rolf Rekdal A/S Tonura, Tomrefjord, Norway, and completed in 1977 by Langsten Slip A/S, Langsten. It was built as an ice strengthened anchor handling tug, of 4200 bhp with a 55 tonne bollard pull. Its twin contollable pitch props are mounted in fixed nozzles, and its hull is heavily fendered below the water line.
After service for J. Ostensjø of Haugesund, Norway it was brought to Canada for work in the Beaufort Sea for Arctic Offshore Marine Services, the Hay River based company owned by Capt Don Tétrault. It possibly made a northwest passage on its delivery. I am not sure of its route when it was then sold to Trois-Rivières, ca. 1987.
In the mid-1990s when Atlantic Towing Ltd had new tugs under construction for use at Point Tupper, Duga was chartered until the new tugs were delivered and it was based at the Statia terminal in Point Tupper.
The tug has been well maintained by Groupe Océan at their own shipyard, but I understand that the Wichmann main engines are unusual and perhaps a bit of a liability.
It is interesting that the tug has kept its name since 1977, despite now five changes of ownership. (The world "duga" in old Norse can mean "help" or "aid" and has a similar meaning in several Scandanavian tongues, so seems appropriate for a tug,).
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