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Falling rental price for idle tug

The Klaipeda Port Authority's tug "Stumbras" currently is idle because the two competing tug companies – KLASCO Towage Assistance and Towmar Smith Baltic no longer need the ship. KLASCO Towage Assistance operates three tugs – "KLASCO-1", "KLASCO-2" and the "Bizonas". Towmar Smith Baltic owns nine tugs. In 2010 the "Stumbras" was the most powerful ship of its class for some time, with 51.7 tons of towing capacity. Currently the "Stumbras" does not even make to the port's top five. In towing capacity, the tugs "KLASCO-1" and "KLASCO –2" are more powerful. In 2000 the Port Authority purchased "Stumbras" in order to increase competition. The purchase price of the tug has not yet paid off. From 2002 to 2008, KLASCO paid the port authority ten million litas for "Stumbras". Since the beginning of 2009, the "Stumbras" had been leased to the tug company Towage & Marine Assistance. In mid-August 2011, the Port Authority announced the tug's "Stumbras" lease tender. The initial rental price is 132,861 litas per month. The provisions of the tender include a special condition – the ship must be exclusively used either in the port of Klaipeda or in the Baltic Sea, no more than 20 nautical miles away from Klaipeda. Such conditions would imply that the tug can be leased to one of the two tug services providers that had rented the tug before. Perhaps the tug's falling rental price will attract entrepreneurs' attention. In 2008, "Stumbras" initial rental price was over 147,000 litas.