The 26-metre Damen Shoalbuster, which has been in use in Jersey for 15 years, is equipped to carry out a range of services.
However, for the first ten years of its life the vessel sat in St Helier Harbour and was rarely used – on occasion assisting vessels in and out of the Island.
But since Ports of Jersey became a commercial entity it has been rented out and used by organisations and companies to carry out jobs all over north-west Europe.
It has been used to help with underwater cable-laying projects in the Netherlands and to erect wind turbines off the coast of the UK.
Head of operations for Ports of Jersey Aaron Gavey said the vessel had a good reputation around Europe and that the money that it makes helps to keep the boat running.
He said: ‘For about ten years it was just sitting on the end of the pontoon, but now with the work it does it brings in about £750,000 per year.
‘It was doing very little before and was costing about £800 per day just to have it sitting there.
‘All that money was coming out of funds, but with it now making the money it does, that money pays for the running of it, so there isn’t a need to take money out of funds.
‘Its job a lot of the time here is to assist vessels in and out of the Harbour in difficult conditions, but most of the time it is out around north-west Europe.
‘It has a good reputation now within companies in this sector.’
The vessel is equipped to provide marine services from towage, mooring maintenance and anchor handling to bed levelling and survey and engineering support in some of the most challenging conditions in northern Europe.
When the tug is out of Jersey waters, the Island is not left without a vessel for jobs here, according to Mr Gavey.
He added: ‘It may sound silly to rent out your boat to get another one in, but when it is out we bring in a replacement tug that can carry out tasks here.’
