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Alexandra Towing Co. Ltd.’s

oil rig. On completion the ‘INVINCIBLE’ then proceeded to Yokohama, Japan where the huge barge was loaded with pipes for the U.S.A. Once loaded the tug continued her trans-global tow to California, and to finish this epic voyage she then towed a ship from Long Beach through the Panama Canal back into the Gulf of Mexico to almost the point from which she had started.


In June 1987, the year of the Companies centenary, the ‘
INDOMITABLE’ a Liverpool based tug sailed for the Falkland Islands on contract to the Ministry of Defence. Her sister tug ‘FORMIDABLE’, based at Gravesend was engaged to tow Britain’s first ironclad (built in 1860) H.M.S. “WARRIOR” from Hartlepool to the Historic Dockyard at Portsmouth. During the raising of the Tudor warship “MARY ROSE” in 1982, Alexandra tugs had attended the crane barge “TOG MOR” while she lifted the wreck from her watery resting place and they were responsible for the towage until she was safely berthed in her dock.The Alexandra Towing Co. Ltd. had attended all launches of Royal Naval vessels at Cammell Laird, Birkenhead for over seventy years and at Vickers (V.S.E.L.), Barrow for the last twenty years. This is in addition to attending Royal Navy ships in the River Mersey, River Thames and the Solent during the last hundred years.

The companies tugs serviced the ports of Liverpool, London, Felixstowe, Southampton, Swansea, Port Talbot, Barrow, Ramsgate, Gibraltar and the surrounding areas with a fleet of modern, powerful tugs which were deployed to meet the needs of shipowners until March 1993 when the company was purchased by Howard Smith (UK) Ltd which is a subsidiary of the Australian corporation Howard Smith Pty.
They continued to do that job under the new company name of Howard Smith Towage Limited and Howard Smith Towage & Salvage. In 1994 the new owners of The Alexandra Towing

Company Limited decided that the world famous colours of black, white and buff funnels were to go and be replaced by the Howard Smith colours and logo. On the 31st December 1995 the once proud name was also consigned to the history books as the Australian parent company determined it was time to look to the future and to bury all traces of the past, and so on the 1st January 1996 the name of The Alexandra Towing Co. Ltd ceased to exist in everything except the memory of those who had worked for or with the premier towing company in the U.K.
In 1997 Howard Smith decided to sell its interests in Gibraltar and the following year the company pulled out of the port of Swansea due to falling demand and increased competition.

In March 2000 Howard Smiths’ towage and shipping interests in Australia & the U.K were bought out by ‘ADSTEAM’, the Adelaide Steamship Co also of Australia and the fleet once again changed its livery.

The year 2007 saw yet another change in the fortunes of the former Alexandra Towing Co. Ltd, when after protracted negotiations and further discussions with the Monopolies Commission, Ad steam in its entirety was sold to Svitzer Marine with the exception of the Liverpool division of the group, because competition would have ceased in the port the Monopolies &Mergers Commission decided it was not in the best interests of the port users and so allowed Svitzer to purchase the majority of the group but on 29th March 2007 Adsteam Liverpool became SMIT Towage Liverpool. Another name for the local enthusiasts to add to the growing list of companies trading on this great river.