At a special dedication ceremony at the Port of Leith this week, six tugs were given a traditional marine blessing with their godmothers present. They form part of the large fleet of tugs and work boats operated by Targe Towing Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of Forth Ports Limited, which provide towage, emergency response and other services 24 hours a day principally on the Forth and Tay, two of the UK’s busiest waterways, the North East ports of Scotland and offshore.

The ceremony also marked, by the merged entities, 40 years of continuous towage operations at Braefoot Bay and 30 years of operations at Hound Point Marine Terminal both located on the River Forth. Bishop of Brechin, Rt Rev Andrew Swift, led the blessing of the tugs, which are named the Balmerino, Camperdown, Inchcolm, Kittiwake*, Peterel and Queensferry and, to follow the tradition of assigning a female godmother to a marine vessel, each tug had its godmother at the ceremony.

• MT BALMERINO – Godmother Carole Cran – Chief Commercial and Financial Officer at Forth Ports
• MT CAMPERDOWN – Godmother Lesley Dorman – Lesley is married to Captain Nick Dorman, MD of Targe Towing
• MT INCHCOLM – Godmother Tyne Reilly – FNGL Plant Manager at Shell
• MT KITTIWAKE* – Godmother Pamela Smyth – Chief Legal and Property Officer at Forth Ports
• MT PETEREL – Godmother Karen Wallace – Karen is married to Stuart Wallace, CEO of Forth Ports
• MT QUEENSFERRY – Godmother Angela Gardner – Angela is married to Andrew Gardner, CEO of INEOS Forties Pipeline Services, owner of the tug.

[*The Kittiwake was operating elsewhere and not present at the ceremony.]

Representatives from Damen Shipyard, Robert Alan Naval Architects and Sanmar Shipyard who designed and built the tugs, welcomed the ship’s godmothers with a gift exchange. The Tugs, crewed by expert mariners, are established work horses of the Target Towing and INEOS FPS marine fleets and have a long life span which can last decades. These state-of-the-art vessels demonstrate the latest technology and significantly enhance the overall towage capability and emergency response for the region.

Stuart Wallace, Chief Executive of Forth Ports said; “This investment in enhanced marine services by Targe and INEOS FPS is a commitment to maintaining safe operations on the Forth, Tay and elsewhere as well as delivering excellent services to our customers. The Forth and Tay are two of the busiest waterways in the UK with thousands of vessels navigating the rivers including very large crude carriers (VLCC) to Hound Point, container vessels into Scotland’s largest container terminal at Grangemouth; jack up rigs into Dundee; cruise liners calling across our ports and deep water anchorages; and gas carriers to and from Braefoot Bay.” 

Captain Nick Dorman, Managing Director of Targe Towing said:  “These modern additions to our combined fleet will give us the flexibility and enhanced capability to future proof the growing maritime needs as the region transitions to alternative energy sources as well as maintaining the current demands.”

Andrew Gardner, CEO of INEOS FPS said: “We are delighted to be joining our partners on the Forth at this dedication ceremony and welcoming these modern and highly efficient tugs to support our Operations. In addition, I would like to mention and thank Targe Towing for 30 years of support and service on Hound Point and recognise their achievement in this time with a zero lost time safety record.”