Palermo-based Adormare is adding an anchor handling tug to its fleet of work ships. Francesco Adorno, head of the shipping company, confirmed that "the AHTS renamed Mer Provider formally has been purchased by a Maltese company and will be chartered out to Adormare for a work in the port of Termini Imerese, close to Palermo. The AHTS will be deployed for towing a 10,000dwt barge transporting stones from Trapani".

Mer Provider, formerly Mermaid Provider and part of the Fremantle-based MMA Offshore, was built in 1999 and has a gross tonnage of 804 tons. The sale price was not disclosed but broker sources close to the deal suggest that it was more than US$1m.

Adormare is a family owned company active in the field of civil works at sea and has a fleet of several barges, dredgers and now also an AHTS. What's more, the Adorno-led shipping firm also operates a shipyard in Palermo equipped with a floating drydock.