The General Directorate of Coastal Safety (KEGM), which is the cornerstone of life, property, navigation, and environmental safety in Turkish waters, is resolutely progressing towards its goal of equipping its fleet with domestically produced vessels. The expected signatures have been affixed for the second phase of the modernization initiative launched within the framework of the 'Procurement of 6 Emergency Response Tugboats' project.

In this context, an official contract has been signed with Ereğli Shipyard, which is part of Turkey's established maritime company Med Marine, for the construction of 2 tugboats with a towing capacity of 80 tons that will demonstrate superior maneuverability and intervention capability in all our seas, particularly in the Bosphorus and Dardanelles. This step, taken to minimize the risks posed by increasing ship tonnages and intensifying maritime traffic, will provide a much more dynamic and robust structure to the safety belt in our seas.

During this strategic signing ceremony, which has generated great satisfaction in the sector, the contract was jointly signed by General Manager Mustafa Bankaoğlu on behalf of the General Directorate of Coastal Safety and R. Hakan Şen, Chairman of the Board of Med Marine Holding. The tugboats to be constructed at Med Marine's fully equipped Ereğli Shipyard in Zonguldak, which exports specially designed marine vehicles to all corners of the world, have once again certified the international level achieved by domestic engineering blended with high technology.

This critical agreement between the two institutions has been recorded as the most current example of the invaluable contribution of public and private sector collaboration to maritime safety. This strong collaboration between the Coastal Safety and Med Marine (Ereğli Shipyard) actually carries the continuation of a much larger vision and past successes that the maritime community closely follows.

When looking at the past construction records of the institutions, it is clearly seen that Ereğli Shipyard has recently undertaken the project of building Turkey's strongest escort tugs for KEGM. The massive escort tugboats, which have a towing capacity of at least 130 tons and a length of 42 meters, that have recently begun construction are the greatest proof of mutual trust and production quality between the institutions.

Now, this long-standing collaboration continues with the construction of two new generation tugboats equipped with advanced firefighting (Fi-Fi 1), escort, emergency response, and rescue capabilities, with a towing capacity of 80 tons. These floating fortresses, which will be equipped with environmentally friendly technologies and utilize green energy, are expected to begin their service in the glorious fleet of Turkish maritime as soon as they are launched from the slipway at the modern facilities of Ereğli Shipyard.

Source: SeaNews Türkiye