ADSTEAM MARINE LTD.

Adsteam inherited the house flag and the shield and motto designed for the original company seal in 1875: “Festina Lente”, translated as “make haste slowly”. Wholly owned Adsteam tugs, Ritch & Smith vessels at Adelaide and Wallace vessels at Port Kembla adopted the A436 funnel, described as pale buff. They displayed the house flag on the front of the wheelhouse and flew it; the Wallace vessels also flew their own flag.

The basic flag is white with a blue cross, described as the first hoist of the signal “shall I take you in tow” before adoption of the current International Code. On the funnel, white edging separates the star from the “A”. Maritime News supplies the A684 funnel and flag reference.

Adsteam Marine was formed to take over the maritime interests of Residual Assco Group, previously Adelaide Steamship. The source gives 28 February 1997 as the effective transfer date and 23 April as the flotation date, with the offer closing oversubscribed on 26 May.

Purchases included Barbican Marine Agencies, announced in August 1997, and the Burns Philp shipping division, announced on 1 January 1998. Howard Smith Towage Ltd. was acquired in May 2001 and renamed Adsteam Towage Ltd., becoming Svitzer Towage Ltd. in 2007. Red Funnel Towage was acquired in 2002 from Southampton. Isle of Wight & South of England Royal Mail Steam Packet Plc. The separately listed Adsteam Towage Pty. Ltd. was the renamed Wallace Tugs and was wholly owned, as were Ritch & Smith and Fremantle Towage. Adsteam Offshore, formed in 1990 at Fremantle, became Svitzer Offshore in 2007. Queensland Tug & Salvage became Adsteam Harbour-Brisbane. Adsteam and Howard Smith bought P&O’s half of Medina Maritime Services effective 30 December 1996; Port Lincoln Tugs was jointly owned with N.D. Hegarty & Son.

Bowen Towage was a venture with MIM Holdings and Howard Smith in which Adsteam held 25%. The Marine Pacific Group was owned equally with Howard Smith through United Salvage.

The Svitzer takeover chronology is inconsistent in the original account. Rosanoski gives 3 July 2007 for SvitzerWijsmuller’s bid, explicitly rejecting Maritime News’ July 2006 date, but also records acquisition of 90% on 23 March 2007 and adoption of the Svitzer identity on 11 April 2007. A later website reference gives 23 March 2008 for receipt of 90%. Adsteam companies appeared among Svitzer’s operators in December 2007 and were absorbed into Svitzer-named companies in April 2008. These conflicting dates remain unresolved.

Australia, Sydney.