Svitzer Takes Delivery of China-Built Escort Tug
The Svitzer Resolve is the first TRAnsverse 2900-design escort tug built at Cheoy Lee Shipyards' Hin Lee facility in Zhuhai.
Updated on Nov. 4, 2026 in People
Svitzer has taken delivery of its first Chinese-built TRAnsverse 2900-design escort tug, Svitzer Resolve, after sea trials at the Cheoy Lee Shipyards' Hin Lee Shipyard in Zhuhai. The tug is now sailing towards Singapore and then Port Louis, Mauritius.
Why it matters
The delivery marks the start of a series of tugs being built in China for Svitzer, which has 23 other TRAnsverse tugs under construction or on order. The expanding fleet reflects the company's continued investment in the TRAnsverse design.
The Svitzer Resolve measures 29 m in length, 13 m in beam and 395 gross tonnes, and Svitzer has 15 TRAnsverse 2900-design tugs on order at Cheoy Lee. Delivery dates for the remaining 23 tugs under construction or on order have only been given as a window from Q4 2026 to 2028.
The players
Svitzer
Svitzer is a maritime services company that operates tugs and marine support vessels worldwide, and it has ordered a large fleet of TRAnsverse tugs for its operations.
Cheoy Lee Shipyards
Cheoy Lee Shipyards is a Hong Kong-based shipbuilder with facilities in China that has built the TRAnsverse 2900-design tugs for Svitzer at its Hin Lee Shipyard in Zhuhai.
Robert Allan Ltd
Robert Allan Ltd is a naval architecture firm based in British Columbia, Canada, that developed the design for the TRAnsverse tugs with Svitzer.
The details
The TRAnsverse design uses a double-ended hull, inline fore-and-aft thrusters and a patented half-circle staple, and the tug carries twin Furuno radar and a FiFi1 firefighting system with two monitors. Robert Allan Ltd developed the naval architecture, and the first batch of seven tugs was contracted at Cheoy Lee in 2025.
Timeline
2025: First batch of seven TRAnsverse tugs contracted at Cheoy Lee
27 October 2026: Svitzer Resolve left Hong Kong
3 November 2026: Svitzer Resolve passed the island of Borneo
September 2026: Svitzer ordered a second batch of eight TRAnsverse tugs
Q4 2026 to 2028: Delivery window for 23 other TRAnsverse tugs
Market Landscape
The Svitzer Resolve is the first TRAnsverse 2900-design tug built in China, extending a design developed with Robert Allan Ltd into a shipyard that already holds 15 Svitzer orders. The continued build-out at Cheoy Lee shows Svitzer concentrating its tug fleet renewal around a single design and a single yard.
For shipping customers and port operators, the expanding TRAnsverse fleet means Svitzer will have more escort and towage capacity arriving between 2026 and 2028. Service availability and pricing are not addressed in the source material.
The takeaway
Fleet renewal in the tug sector is increasingly tied to standardized designs built at a limited number of shipyards, which can simplify maintenance and crew training across a large operator's vessels.
Further reading
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