Towing in the Port of Gothenburg.

In accordance with Section 20 of the Bye-Laws, the Port Authority can prescribe assistance by tugboats.

The rules for tugboat assistance at the Port of Gothenburg have been drawn up in consultation with the Swedish Maritime Administration and provide information about the number of tugboats upon arrival at/departure from the Port of Gothenburg. When calculating the number of tugboats, the starting point is normal current conditions and wind speed up to 10 m/s.

In the event of unfavourable current conditions and wind speeds above 10 m/s, it may be necessary to use more tugboats than are prescribed. The pilot decides in consultation with the vessel’s captain in each individual case how a planned vessel operation can be performed with sufficient safety margins.

For vessels for which a pilot is not mandatory, the Port Authority, as the party responsible for safety and the port’s installations, recommends that a pilot be engaged in connection with tugboat assistance.

Guidance in connection with ordering tugboats is available in the form of specifications for each terminal and for the number of tugboats that must be used under normal conditions. You can find these in the Tug Regulation for the Port of Gothenburg.

Regarding a high-performance rudder, this is a rudder that with max. rudder angle offers good lateral force and no or only insignificant force forward. A high-performance rudder can be of the model Schilling, Becker Flap Rudder or another product with the equivalent function. A normal spade rudder that can be set with a large rudder angle does not count as a high-performance rudder. Not all so-called high-performance rudders can be considered to be high-performance, and for this reason the Port Authority, in consultation with Pilot Area Gothenburg, reserves the right to define and assess the capacity of a rudder. If a vessel wishes to show that it has a high-performance rudder, equivalent to the above description, a description and a vector diagram of the rudder with ahead force and side force expressed in % must be sent to the Port Authority for assessment.

Changes in the Port of Gothenburg’s Tug Regulations must take place in consultation with the Swedish Maritime Administration, Pilot Area Gothenburg.

Escort towing is mandatory at the Port of Gothenburg for tankers of more than 30,000 tonnes. Svitzer, the towing company at the Port of Gothenburg, can offer this service. Vessels that are subject to compulsory escort towing must comply with the OCIMF (Oil Companies International Maritime Forum) recommendations.

For detailed information about which rules apply regarding escort towing of tankers at the Port of Gothenburg, see our General Port Regulations, which you can download below.