Sanmar Shipyards has handed over its first tugboat to a customer in Oman, marking the Turkish builder’s entry into a new Gulf market and extending its export footprint beyond its traditional European and African client base.
The vessel, built at Sanmar’s yard on Turkey’s Marmara coast, is part of the company’s well-established series of harbor and terminal tugs designed for towage, escort and berthing operations. While the shipyard has not disclosed full technical specifications for the unit delivered to the Omani operator, Sanmar’s tug designs are typically fitted with azimuth stern drive propulsion and bollard pull ratings suited to port and offshore support work in the region.
The delivery underscores the growing appetite among Gulf port operators and terminal owners for modern, fuel-efficient tugs as trade volumes through Omani ports, including Salalah and Sohar, continue to expand. Regional owners have increasingly turned to Turkish yards, drawn by competitive pricing, shorter build times and a track record of reliable newbuild deliveries compared with some Asian and European competitors.
Sanmar has built a reputation over the past two decades as one of the world’s leading tug builders, supplying vessels to owners across Europe, Africa, the Americas and now the Middle East. The company operates two shipyards near Istanbul and has delivered hundreds of tugs designed in partnership with naval architecture firms specializing in harbor towage and offshore support vessels.
Industry watchers see the Oman delivery as a signal that Turkish shipbuilders are positioning themselves more aggressively in Gulf tenders, an area historically dominated by yards in the UAE, Singapore and China. For Sanmar, the handover opens a reference point that could support further orders as Omani port authorities and private terminal operators look to renew aging tug fleets.
Why it matters: The delivery signals Sanmar’s expanding reach into Gulf markets that have traditionally relied on regional or Asian tug builders, giving Turkish shipbuilding fresh credibility for future Middle East tenders. For Omani port operators, the new tug adds modern towage capacity as container and bulk traffic through the Sultanate’s terminals continues to grow, supporting broader efforts to position Oman as a logistics hub between Asia, Africa and Europe.
Source: 7Deniz, 2020-06-08T13:29:52 — https://www.7deniz.net/video/sanmar-ummana-ilk-romorkoru-teslim-etti