06 Aug 2026
Swan Defence and Heavy Industries won a contract from Denmark's Svitzer to build four TRAnsverse 3200 tugs at its Pipavav yard in Gujarat, with deliveries starting in early 2028.
The design is co-developed by Svitzer with naval architects Robert Allan, delivers 80 tonnes of bollard pull through an omni-directional propulsion and hydrodynamic hull arrangement, and is claimed to be up to 15 percent more fuel efficient than conventional tug designs. The vessels are built to Bureau Veritas class and specified biofuel-ready, IMO Tier III-ready and FiFi1 firefighting-class ready. No contract value was disclosed in the filing, so the significant part is how it was won: the company says the award followed an extensive competitive evaluation of leading global shipyards. This is a commercial export order for the former Reliance Naval and Engineering yard, taken against international competition rather than through a domestic defence procurement route.