Towage Contract

A towage contract engages a tug to move or assist another vessel, and the standard forms set its risk allocation: BIMCO’s TOWCON is a lump-sum ocean towage contract and TOWHIRE its daily-hire equivalent, both built on knock-for-knock indemnities. Harbour towage often runs on tug-owners’ conditions that throw most risk onto the tow. The legal character matters because a towage that becomes a rescue can convert into salvage, with a salvor’s reward, where the tow faces a danger outside the original engagement.