Our collective heritage
Boluda
Boluda Corporación Marítima was established in 1837 and is a family-owned company. The company started its port tug activities in Valencia (Spain) in 1920.
In 2017, Boluda acquired the German towage companies Unterweser Reederei and Lutgens & Reimers. And recently, in August 2019, Kotug Smit Towage became part of Boluda Towage Group.
URAG - L&R
URAG is a
historic European company with 126 years of history, founded to meet freight
traffic demand on the Weser River as it passed through the city of Bremen, in
the late nineteenth century. Since then it has evolved and specialized, and is currently
one of the leading German towage companies, with a fleet of state-of-the-art
vessels and a strategic presence in the major German ports. The 18 tugs of the
fleet are state-of-the-art vessels with a 100 ton bollard pull, specialized in
port and offshore towage and maritime rescue.
In 2001, Linnhoff Schiffahrt GmbH & Co. KG, Buxtehude, took over URAG together with
L&R Schleppschiffahrt GmbH&Co. KG, RF Forschungsschiffahrt GmbH and
WIKING Helikopter Service GmbH to develop an effective mesh of services for
near- and offshore markets. 181-year-old
company L&R operates on the river Elbe and in the port of Hamburg.
In 2017, the Spanish Boluda Group acquired the companies URAG and L&R.
Kotug Smit Towage
Kotug Smit Towage was established in 2016 trough the merger of Kotug (part of Kotug International) and Smit (owned by Royal Boskalis).
The company had a leading presence in 12 ports in 4 European countries (the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany), that has led to increased growth and smarter towing operations with a modern and efficient fleet of around 70 tugs.
Kotug Smit was incorporated in Boluda Corporacion Maritima in August 2019.
The
roots of Kotug Smit Towage, decades of combined track record
Our
collective heritage of 350 years of harbour towage is what we breathe and what
we are well known for. Our roots are unmistakably European, just like our long
history.
In
1842, Fop Smit (Smit Internationale) began providing vessels with a safe and
reliable passage into the Port of Rotterdam in the Netherlands. In 2007, Smit
Internationale acquired Adsteam’s Liverpool towage operation (Alexandra
Towing). In 2008 Smit Internationale required 100% shares in URS. The roots of
URS go back to 1870, when captain Henri Gerling established his company
“Remorquage à Hélice s.a.” on the river Scheldt. In 1923, the company changed
its name into URS.
The roots of Kotug (four generations family Kooren) go back to the initial activities of Antonie Kooren, when he built his fi rst tug in 1911. In 1987 Kotug International was established and started harbor towage activities in Rotterdam in 1988.