TowService BV
Our surveyors help to get your tow and / or cargo to the destination as safely and efficiently as possible. Our surveyors have broad practical experience in the towing business as captains or as surveyors for the offices. To this practical experience, TowService B.V. has added the knowledge of a wellknowm engineering office. Thanks to this cooperation, all special transports are calculated and / or checked with respect to cradles, pedestais, sea fastening or any other structural issue. We are convinced that TowService B.V. is a welcome addition on this market and provide the vessel, manager and underwriter with the lasted updated information on a daily basis.
Warranty Surveys
Towage approvals and certification
Warranty surveys arise from the desire of underwriters to limit their exposure to risks. Faced with insuring a towage project, the underwriter may feel more comfortable if they know that a competent and experienced surveyor has physically inspected tug and tow and/or cargo and approved the arrangements. With modern equipment and software TowService B.V. is able to monitor the weather forecasts and navigational hazards continuously and provide the vessel, manager and underwriter on daily base with the latest updated information.
Lashing surveys – certification
Heavy lift and Transport approvals
In cooperation with Prevent Survey or other engineering offices, TowService B.V. provides all kinds of project cargo warranty surveys. The basis of this is our “Project Cargo Risk Management System”, which includes preproject risk analysis and calculations and ensures are minimized, suitability of vessels, vehicles, lashings and lifting equiment and much more. All of this in accordance with globally accepted regulations and guidelines.
Lifting and lowering operations
Lifting operations can often put people at great risk of injury, as well as incurring great costs when they go wrong. It is therefore important to properly resource, plan and organise lifting operations so they are carried out in a safe manner. TowService B.V. provides surveyors with experience with all types of lifting operations. They plan, prepare, communicate and verify before start-up and during operation. By conducting a complete risk assessment of the lifting, risks are reduced, resulting in safe operation.
RoRo and float on/off operations
Roll on and Roll off operations with Self Propelled Modular Transporters (SPMT’s) of heavy or voluminous cargo on and off barges or vessels are operations consisting of multiple disciplines. Often, different companies participate in the operations. The surveyors of TowService B.V. they can combine the different disciplines to avoid risks. These disciplines include stability calculations, ballast plans, stowage plans, mooring plans, and capacity calculations. Thanks to good planning, good communication and experience, operations can be carried out more safely and most of the time, more efficiently if we participate in preparation and during implementation.
About the risks mentioned above, it also applies to float on and float off operations. In many cases, a transport can be a combination, for example when SPMT loads a load and unloads it with a floating operation. Specialized heavy cargo ships, also known as semi-submersible vessels, provide the ability to load, transport, and unload cargo. Vessels or barges are designed to carry ballast water in floodable tanks that partially submerge the ship. The cargo is then floated over the submerged part of the ship, which is then thrown and emerges under the cargo. Once the vessel is completely unloaded, the cargo is secured for transport.
Voyage approvals
The request for voyage approvals arises from the desire of insurers to limit their exposure to risks while traveling on a ship or tugboat. Faced with the need to insure a voyage, the underwriter may feel more comfortable knowing that a competent and experienced surveyor has physically inspected the vessel, tug and towing equipment and approved the arrangements. With modern equipment and software, TowService B.V. is able to monitor weather forecasts and boating hazards on an ongoing basis and provide the vessel, manager and underwriter with the latest updated information on a daily basis.
Tow and Loading masters
TowService B.V. provide a towing master and / or loading master with extensive knowledge and skills as captain or master mariner in the field of towing. The towing or loading master is able to clearly communicate his knowledge and experience to other involved in the operation. The towing master is the responsible person during a complex tow transport with multiple tugs. The towing master can advise a tugboat captain who lacks specific experience in complex assignments or transports, or when communication over the radio proves to be difficult. The towing master can thus prevent damage to equipment and lost time to operations if an otherwise experienced crew is unable to carry out the job. The loading master is the person in charge during a loading operation when the cargo is loaded on or off a vessel / barge.
Project cargo Risk management
Analyzing the risks involved in the transportation of any project cargo is essential to reduce the chance of financial or any other losses related to the cargo. Surveyors of TowService B.V. can tell you what are the risks the owners and underwriters will be exposed to during the whole transportation chain and how to minimize the risks. Our experienced surveyors will analyse all aspects of the project and consider all exposures. By doing this, they will inform all of parties involved, of the optimum solutions in terms of route. transport mode and methods and so on.
