Port of Hastings Development Authority and Victorian Regional Channels Authority are seeking Expressions of Interest for the provision of towage services in Western Port, Victoria.

Port of Hastings Development Authority is responsible for ensuring that essential port services are available and cost effective to maintain shipping operations at the Port of Hastings in Victoria.

Victorian Regional Channels Authority is responsible for safe navigation in the port waters of Western Port.

Towage services at the Port of Hastings are currently provided by a single operator under a non-exclusive licence arrangement. Commercial arrangements are made between the towage provider and the vessel’s agent. The Port presently hosts approximately 100 vessels per annum.

The purpose of this EOI process is to ensure that competitive tug services are available to our existing and new customers.

The Port of Hastings is also actively preparing for the AGL LNG Import Project which will require either 3 or 4 larger tugs of approximately 70 tonnes bollard pull should the project proceed. The project is planned to commence operations during the first half of 2020 and adequate towage capability will need to be in place for project commencement. If it proceeds the project will see an additional 12 to 48 ships visiting Western Port per annum.

In seeking to increase the towage capability for the AGL LNG Import Project, towage service providers will need to ensure that the existing port users are not financially disadvantaged by the increased towage requirement.

This Expression of Interest is a pre-registration process for potential service providers to state their operational and financial capability to determine which towage providers are selected for further discussion.

Deadline for submissions in 31 August 2018.

Submissions should be sent via email to: procurement@portofhastings.com