Tugs face pirate danger at sea

Route takes tugs through high risk waters. 

Danger ahead for tugs as they head to Dubai

TIM DONOGHUE

They’re used to rough seas, but not to the sort of dangers that lie ahead of them.

CentrePort’s long-serving little red tugboats, Toia and Ngahue, will each have three armed guards on board, on duty round the clock, as they make their way to their new home in Dubai, after they were sold to Delta Offshore International for an undisclosed sum.

They are expected to sail out of Wellington Harbour this weekend on their 8 1/2-week voyage.

Dutchman Nanne van Cranenburgh, who will skipper one of the tugs, said the armed guards would join the five crew on each tug as they crossed the pirate-infested waters of the Indian Ocean between Singapore and Dubai.

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Source: stuff.co.nz