12 new tugboats for the Norwegian Defence Material Agency

Kewatec has signed a contract with the Norwegian Defence Material Agency to provide 12 new tugboats for the Norwegian Armed Forces. The contract has a value of around NOK 60 million and the boats are scheduled to be delivered to the Norwegian Armed Forces during the first quarter of 2024.

The tugboats tow or maneuver other boats and floating structures. The primary use for the boats is to build floating bridges. The boats are 7,5 m long, equipped with Kongsberg waterjet and Agcopower engines, capable of running on F-34 fuel. The boat is designed for easy operation, transport, and maintenance with a strong bollard pull forward and backward. The boats are designed like a “Swiss-Army knife” with many operational features and easily foldable systems for various ways of lifting and low transport height.

"With this acquisition, the Army gets a functional boat that can be used as a tool in structural construction on water and as a means of propulsion for the Army's existing Uniflote ferries," says Tomas Beck, head of Land Capacities in Defense Material Agency.

The tugboats that the Army uses today were commissioned in the early 1980s and are now ripe for replacement.