Emergency tow vessel

The disabled vessel is either towed to a safe haven or kept in place against wind and current until commercial assistance by tug boats has arrived on site or until it has been repaired to the extent of being able to manoeuvre on its own.

The need for ETVs as a preventive measure has arisen since the number of available commercial salvage tugs was reduced while potential dangers from individual vessels have increased.

[1] E.g. Spain has fourteen, Turkey has eleven, Germany operates eight, Norway has seven, France has five, Sweden three and the Netherlands, Poland, South Africa, Iceland and Finland each have one official emergency tug boat.

[2] The United Kingdom's four strong ETV fleet was to be disbanded in September 2011 due to budget cuts but the two vessels operating in Scottish waters received an extension of contract until the end of 2011.

Depending on the vessel's type and keel laid date,[5] in accordance with the MSC256(84) standard they must have on board an emergency towing procedure manual.

The ship is listed as a multi-purpose oil recovery vessel[7] and can be used for emergency towing, fire-fighting, icebreaking, mine-laying, to combat oil/chemical spills, as well as other rescue operations.

The vessel has a bollard pull of 60 t.[8] YAG Louhi is based at the Port of Upinniemi approximately 40 km west of Helsinki in the Archipelago Sea.

With a bollard pull of about 110 tonnes it has been specified so, that in case of emergency the new Icelandic Coast Guard vessel will be able to tow stricken tankers of up to about 200,000 dwt.

The Sociedad de Salvamento y Seguridad Marítima has a total of 14 multi-purpose vessels for search and rescue and pollution prevention duties.

The Turkish Directorate General of Coastal Safety operates 11 ETVs along with numerous SAR, oil spill response and fire fighting vessels at Bosphorus and Dardanelles, where the organization has a de jure monopoly for marine salvage along with the Sea of Marmara.

Some of these ETVs also serve as escort tugs for vessels passing through Bosphorus and Dardanelles, which make up the Turkish Straits System, one of the busiest and dangerous seaways all around the world.

[46][48] On 30 September 2011 it was however announced that the two ETVs operating in the Minch and the Shetland Islands received a moratorium of three months with an interim funding by the United Kingdom's government.