Boluda acquires Finnish tug company
Boluda Towage has acquired Finnish tug company Yxpila Hinaus-Bogsering, driving forward its Scandinavian expansion plans.
Boluda Towage, a family-owned company, provides tailored towage and tug services to customers in over 100 worldwide ports. It operates a fleet of over 400 vessels in 19 countries on continents in Europe, Africa, Asia, and Latin America. The group also provides offshore and ocean towage and salvage operations.
With this latest acquisition, the business, with its HQ in the Netherlands, has now added ice breaking and harsh-environment operations in Northern Europe to its offering. The expansion sees six new vessels added to its fleet and operations in four Finnish ports, allowing operations in extreme weather conditions.
Vicente Boluda Fos, Boluda’s President, said:
“This purchase is a further step in our consolidation in northern Europe, a complex market where the experience and expertise of the crews are key to carry out towing and marine salvage operations in extreme conditions.
“In addition, we are opening the Scandinavian market, providing coverage to our customers in the northernmost part of the Baltic Sea.”
Yxpila Hinaus-Bogsering is a family owned company providing harbour towage and ice-breaking services in the ports of Kokkola, Vaasa, Raahe and Kemi, in the Gulf of Bothnia, with its fleet of six vessels, four of them being ASD-type tugs, and five double as icebreakers.
The business has operated in the Port of Kokkola for over 40 years, with the docks having grown significantly in the last decade, becoming one of the largest logistics facilities in Finland with special relevance for the mining industry, as well as for dry bulk cargo, chemicals and timber.
This acquisition is the latest in Boluda Towage’s expansion strategy in Europe this year – in February, Resolve Salvage and Fire (Gibraltar) was acquired from Resolve Marine Group, extending its European fleet and emergency response and salvage capabilities. In June, the company purchased the 33-m tugboat VB Responder from Setubal, Portugal.
In March, Boluda acquired family-run SMS Towage, followed in May by the acquisition of Les Abeilles International and its emergency response vessels.