The vision of… Ard-Jan Kooren

Thinking outside the box. That is important to Ard-Jan Kooren, CEO of maritime service provider KOTUG. KOTUG’s history goes back more than a century. Antonie Kooren was the founder of the towage services of the Kooren-family and in 1911, the first Kooren-tugs were in operation. In 1934, Adriaan Kooren, grandfather of Ard-Jan Kooren, registered as an independent towage broker for the dredging construction industry and his son Ton started up his own company Ton Kooren International Marine Services B.V. in 1977, mainly providing deep sea towage. Nine years later, he took over his father’s company and in 1987 saw the foundation of KOTUG International B.V. In 2002, Ton Kooren was succeeded by his son Ard-Jan as CEO of the company.

“Today, we offer harbour towage, coastal and deep sea towage, terminal towage, salvage and emergency response, tug management, chartering brokerage, offshore services and assistance to the dredging industry. We operate one of the youngest and most powerful fleets in the world, as we were able to sell some vessels and replace them with new ones”, says Kooren. “Between 2005 and 2012, 22 new tugs have been added to the KOTUG-fleet. At the moment, we have a fleet of 29. We just put 2 KST-built RotorTugs (RT Darwin and RT Tasman, ed.) and three Damen-built tugs into use (SD Rebel, SD Rover and SD Ranger, ed.), three more are underway from Vietnam and Singapore to Rotterdam, expected to arrive mid-October and mid-November and three more vessels are currently being built in Singapore, with expected delivery end 2012, beginning of 2013.” 220 people work at KOTUG, headquartered in Rotterdam and with offices in the German cities of Hamburg and Bremerhaven. Since September this year, KOTUG is also active with two RotorTugs in Wilhelmshaven, receiving a concession for six years for the new deep sea port. Kooren: “This new port is 70% owned by Eurogate and 30% by APM Terminals. Now we only operate two RotorTugs here, but I predict that in a short while, there will be a lot of traffic in this port, especially with the 18,000 TEU vessels coming up. Maersk already brings in volumes and KOTUG exclusively will assist their 

You have to pioneer

vessels the coming years.” The first assistance of Maersk Laguna was performed during the official opening ceremony of the JadeWeserPort – Container Terminal Wilhelmshaven on 21 September 2012.

Globalisation

Next to the offices in the Netherlands and Germany, KOTUG has agencies in Bergen, Norway and Londen, UK, with an international network. This network is necessary, as KOTUG  is looking to grow internationally. “We  determined a strategy a few years ago: we want I to be one of the leading towage companies in the world, we want to excel in what we do and we want to grow. Our services have to be offered worldwide and growth is necessary to serve international clients. One of the areas we focus on is Australia. Some of our vessels are chartered by Teekay Shipping Australia and we have trained their captains to spread the knowledge we acquired in Rotterdam. This resulted in the joint venture KT Maritime Services Australia Pty Ltd, with an office in  Perth. The goal of this joint venture is to pursue new business opportunities in the Australian towage market. Other areas we concentrate on are South-America, Western Europe and West- Africa with a focus on greenfield projects, new  ports that are being developed.” KOTUG also tried to get its foot in the door in Le Havre, but that was more difficult than breaking the towage monopolies in Rotterdam (1988), Hamburg (1996) and Bremerhaven (1999). “It was a political fight for five years”, Kooren explains. “Although we could count on the ongoing support of our clients, we had a lot of trouble with the continuous changes of rules and regulations. Also we felt that the French authorities didn’t want any foreign players in the market. Therefore we decided to leave France and put our energy in something else.”

Innovation is key

In 1999, KOTUG made a name for itself with the invention of the RotorTug. Instead of two propulsion units, this type is driven by three azimuth propulsion units, each driven by a separate main engine – two forward, as on Z-propeller tractor tugs and one aft as an active skeg. This results in a massive bollard pull with a high degree of manoeuvrability, which means that for many jobs less tugs are needed. Four years ago, KOTUG took it a step further and started the development of an hybrid Rotortug, the E-KOTUG in partnership with Canadian system integrator Aspin, Kemp and Associates. “You have to pioneer. When we started, we didn’t have any answers regarding the E-KOTUG, but we went through with it. We held sessions every week and this resulted in the conversion of the w, which operates in the Port of Rotterdam. The tug was retrofitted with a XeroPoint Hybrid Propulsion System at shipyard Padmos and it was a perfect collaboration.” The conversion was completed in March 2012 and Europe’s first hybrid tugboat rejoined the KOTUG fleet. The E-KOTUG is the first hybrid tug built under class-certification. The tug has many

The next step is to build tugs with hybrid LNG propulsion

advantages: reduced emissions, fuel-efficiency and noise reduction. “Next to that, there are extensive maintenance savings, as overhaul of the main engines is not necessary anymore”, tells Kooren. “We sail on batteries and if necessary with support of the auxiliary engines, that charge the batteries again, so the main engine is hardly used. An advantage, we didn’t think of in the beginning. The next step is to build tugs with hybrid LNG propulsion. LNG will be used instead of the auxiliary engines. Two feasibility studies showed that this is possible for harbour towage tugs.” KOTUG has plans for a new newbuilding programme starting in 2013 and building in Europe might be a possibility, says Kooren: “Many of our vessels have been built in Asia, but we are looking into building in Europe again. Of course this is also a question of costs and benefits, but I would prefer building our next series of new vessels in Europe and we will also tender in Europe for our newbuild programme.”

Green policy

The E-KOTUG and the future hybrid LNG tug fit perfectly in the green policy strategy of KOTUG. “All vessels are built with a green passport, which means that all materials used to build the vessel are recorded in a document and that these materials are suitable for recycling

Daring and doing

when the ship is decommissioned. We use LED lights and washable filters in our tugs. In regard to our employees: you can impose all kinds of things, but that doesn’t work. You need to give the right example yourself and give incentives. One example is cutting back on fuel by slow steaming. We won the Dutch Fuel Competition in 2009 and the guys on board pick it up well. They realise themselves that it does make a difference in regard to fuel consumption, sailing with five or seven knots. After all, it is also about their future.” Another sustainable innovation is the KO-LINK, KOTUG’s own developed and patented towing ring to connect two towlines which results in a longer usage of the towlines. The innovating and sustainable efforts do not stay unnoticed: this year, KOTUG has been shortlisted nominated for the Clean Shipping Award of the Seatrade Awards, Lloyd’s List Environment Award and the KVNR Shipping Award. “A crisis encourages us to be even more creative and innovative”, states Kooren. “You can’t just shut down your towage operations, you have to search for other projects. Our vessels are multifunctional, so in difficult times they can also be used for work at sea for example. Concentrate on new innovations, go against the tide and keep on investing.”

Experiencing

Being creative is also one of KOTUG’s strengths. Examples are the spectacular launching ceremony of the E-KOTUG, the world record attempt kneeboarding, where 30 kneeboarders were towed behind KOTUG’s SD Rover and the – not yet published – movie about towage, with help of Dutch actor Winston Post, both to interest youngsters in the harbour and the towage industry. “These also are examples of thinking outside the box. We use incentives, films, are present at the World Harbour Days, offer short internships for secondary schools and nautical schools. We are always looking for enthusiastic people, especially because of our expansion. Solidifying the relationship with our employees is a core value as well: one KOTUG, one team, that slogan says it all. It’s not only what can the employee do for the company, but definitely also what can the company do for the employee. I am proud of the fact that we have relatively young captains in our fleet, promotion is based on commitment, not on age. Also, many management positions in the office are held by former seafarers. This mix is good for the company, as it prevents loosing contact with the maritime reality. We often invite clients on board of our vessels to let them experience our work and the pride of our crew. Experiencing something is always better that only hearing stories about it. Our guys go that extra mile, it is about daring and doing, just as it is with innovating. Our knowledge is kept inside, we have our own newbuilding department and involve our people in the newbuilding process, with brainstorm sessions, input of our seafarers and the practical and theoretical knowledge of our people. We want to serve our clients as efficient and well as possible, to make sure they have as less costs as possible and of course, we would like to earn a little bit of money ourselves as well.”

Thinking outside the box, it is an important feature for various aspects of entrepreneurship and KOTUG is definitely an example that it pays off.

Gail van den Hanenberg