Boluda Adds Australia and Papua New Guinea Towage as Acquisitions Continue
The Spanish-based Boluda Towage continues its aggressive path of acquisitions to consolidate the towages and global expansion with the acquisition of operations in Australia and Papua New Guinea from Royal Boskalis. The company highlights that the latest deal expands its presence to five continents and consolidates its operations in Asia.
The group reports it has acquired the $600 million towage operation based in Australia and Papua New Guinea from Royal Boskalis. It adds 39 modern and versatile tugs to the Boluda fleet and more than 400 professionals, including seafarers and shore personnel. With regional headquarters in Sydney, Australia, the operation serves nine key ports, including the ports of Weipa, Townsville, Mackay, Gladstone, Brisbane, Newcastle, Botany, Melbourne, and Papua New Guinea.
The acquisition reportedly strengthens Boluda’s role in the export of essential commodities for the energy, technology, and steel industries worldwide. Vicente Boluda Ceballos, President of Boluda Towage, also notes that the company aims to support the development and improvement of port infrastructure wherever it operates.
Boluda currently has operations in Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, and Timor-Leste. With this latest acquisition, Boluda says it has now extended its capacity to 232 ports and a workforce of 10,000 people. They said it consolidates the company as the world’s largest towage operator with a total fleet of over 850 vessels.
The acquisition spree has seen Boluda acquire the German towage companies of Unterweder Reederei and Lutgens & Reimers in 2017, as well as Kotug Smit Towage from Boskalis, the harbor and offshore activities of Iskes Towage & Salvage, and Caledonian Towage of Scotland. More recently, it also made acquisitions in France, the UK, Gibraltar, and Finland, but the deal to acquire Smit Lamnalco collapsed when Royal Boskalis acquired the remaining 50 percent in the joint venture in 2024.
Boskalis in 2019 had announced that it planned to divest its worldwide harbor towage activities. It sold its interest in towage companies in Europe, Central and South America, and Singapore.