Over Koerts

In june 1977 Jan & Gea Koerts started the tugboat company “Sleepdienst J.Koerts” with their vessel “Cornelis Sr.”. The Cornelis Sr. had a 400hp Brons 6GB engine and was mainly used in sand transport and other barge transport work on the Dutch inner waters. In December 1978 the Cornelis Sr. was sold to J.Stigter from Uithuizermeeden.Cornelis Sr.

cornelisIn the first quarter of the year 1979 a new build vessel was ordered at the shipyard Visser (Zwartsluis, Netherlands). The tug/push boat with a 400 hp Caterpillar 3408 engine was baptized as “Cornelis Sr.” The Vessel was mainly used for sand transport and ice breaking on the Dutch inner waters.

In the summer of 1983 the company bought a second tug from J.Engelsman. This seagoing tug with a 1200 hp SKL NVD 48 engine was renamed “Viking”. This vessel was mainly used on worldwide dredging projects and towing voyages. In August 1994 the Cornelis Sr. was sold to Koridon (Zaandam, Netherlands). In November 1995 The Viking changed out his 1200 hp engine for a 2450 hp SKL NVD 29/24. This operation was done at the shipyard Niestern & Sanders (Delfzijl, Netherlands)

The company bought another tug, the “Noorman”, In June 1999. This seagoing tug with a 800 hp Stork DRO 218 was bought from A.Wilson, and used in European dredging projects and towing voyages. In the winters the tug Noormanwas used as an ice breaker in the Dutch inner waters. The Viking was sold in may 2002 to a Spanish company. The Noorman exchanged his Stork engine for a 2250 hp Caterpillar 3516 in the first quarter of 2004. The operation was done by Dolderman (Dordrecht, Netherlands).

In November 2005 the Noorman was sold to Bitunamel (Lubeck, Germany). In 2006 Robert Koerts joined the company. A new tug was ordered at Shipyard Gebr. Kooiman (Zwijndrecht, Netherlands). This multipurpose, 70 ton bollard pull, tug, with 2x 3050 hp Mitsubishi was baptized “Viking” on the first of March 2008. The Viking has mostly been working on wind farms as AHTS till current day. In 2010 a second tug was ordered at shipyard Gebr. Kooiman. This multipurpose, 80 ton bollard pull, tug was baptized “Norne” on the first of April 2011. The Norne has mostly been working on wind farms as AHTS till current day.