Figueira da Foz, Coimbra, Portugal, Jan. 27, 2026 (Lusa) - The lack of a network of rescue and emergency tugs in Portugal, unlike in Spain, runs counter to the country's maritime vocation, said the vice-president of the Figueira da Foz port community on Tuesday.
"There are thousands, and I am not exaggerating, of merchant ships that come to Portugal. There are around 4,000 ships or more that come to Portugal every year, which is a huge number," noted Paulo Mariano.
Speaking to the Lusa news agency, the owner of a port operations company and a shipping agency argued that a country "that calls itself “Atlanticist” and was once a power" at sea should have state-owned rescue tugs.
"It should be the state, as in Spain. The Spanish state has a company that has four deep-sea tugs, solely for salvage operations. Portugal, if it had one or two, would be very well served and could provide a good service to shipping passing through here," he argued.
In conversation with Lusa, based on the situation of the cargo ship Eikborg - which was left rudderless and adrift on Monday, allegedly after hitting the bottom on leaving the Figueira da Foz bar due to the accumulation of sand in the area - Paulo Mariano stressed that, without maritime rescue resources, Portugal conveys an image of insecurity to the largest European shipowners, such as Royal Wagenborg, owner of the damaged ship, which has 160 cargo ships and 3,000 employees.
The issue of the lack of rescue tugs had already been addressed on Monday by Luís Távora, operational director of the transport and maritime towage company Tinita, based in Viana do Castelo, who lamented the lack of a state body with this function.
"Many years ago, more than 20 years ago, there was talk of this, of having a tugboat in the north and another in the south, dividing the country in half. But as always, here in our country, this never gets off the drawing board," he emphasised.
After exhausting all contacts with potential private tugboats in Portugal, the Dutch shipowner and the owner of the cargo that the ship, with six crew members, is transporting - 3,300 tonnes of paper pulp from Altri's Celbi cellulose plant - ended up contracting the service today for €350,000 per day with a Norwegian ocean-going tugboat.
This assistance is expected to arrive at the location of the Eikborg (between 40 and 50 kilometres off the coast, west/northwest of Figueira da Foz) between late tonight and early Wednesday morning.
The tugboat in question is the Skandi Lifter, a powerful ocean-going vessel 90 metres long (one metre longer than the cargo ship it will assist) and 23 metres wide, which can accommodate up to 70 people. Built in 2009, the ship is owned by the Norwegian group DOF and is mainly used to tow mobile oil drilling platforms and wind turbines.
At 2 p.m. on Tuesday afternoon, according to the Marine Traffic portal, the Skandi Lifter was sailing in the Atlantic, off the west coast of Galicia, heading south.
Paulo Mariano explained that the Norwegian tugboat's service "will be extremely complicated" and that the operation will "take several days", given the sea conditions at the site, with waves between six and seven metres, and also the situation of the cargo ship, which has limited manoeuvrability because it has no rudder, moving in reverse at about two kilometres per hour.
The final destination of the damaged ship is likely to be a Spanish port, presumably in the bay of Vigo, in Galicia, northern Spain, a decision that will depend on the rough seas forecast for the coming days, he said.
JLS/AYLS // AYLS
Lusa
