Who are we?
NH Towage A/S, formerly known as Svendborg Bugser A/S, is a Danish shipping company based in Svendborg. The company was founded in 1977 by Niels Aage Henriksen and is now run by his son, Niels Ove Henriksen. Over the years, NH Towage has grown from a local player into an international specialist in towage and marine transport. In 2020, the company changed its name to NH Towage A/S to strengthen its international profile. With a fleet of five tugboats and two barges, NH Towage serves clients worldwide and employs up to 50 people, including ten at the head office in Svendborg. The company offers a wide range of maritime services, including towage, barge and hull transport, as well as seabed levelling and dredging of harbours and navigation channels. NH Towage is guided by values such as good seamanship, responsibility, loyalty, respect, honesty, and flexibility—principles that are reflected in its daily operations. With nearly 50 years of experience and strong roots in the South Funen maritime environment, NH Towage A/S is a trusted partner for both Danish and international clients.
The Organization
Mission, Vision & Values
Mission
We provide dedicated, responsible, and solution-oriented global towing services with quality and safety at the core of everything we do.
Vision
To be the preferred partner in global towing.
Our Values
Our core values are the foundation of our daily operations and define who we are as a company. You can see them all below.
We present our first ESG Report
At NH Towage A/S, we have carried out towage operations at sea for almost five decades. Our work is rooted in practical experience, solid seamanship, and the maritime tradition we come from. These values serve as the compass we navigate by in our daily operations.
With the publication of our first consolidated ESG Report for 2024, we bring our efforts together and provide an open insight into the matters that are most important to operating a modern towage company. The report offers an honest look into the engine room and a clear overview of our work within environment, people, and responsible operations.
Why do we report?
We believe in transparency, both because it represents good practice and because we operate in a highly regulated and safety-critical environment where trust and documentation go hand in hand. ESG reporting is a natural extension of our ongoing focus on compliance, integrity, and responsible business conduct.
The report has been prepared in accordance with the voluntary VSME standard, designed to support small and medium-sized enterprises in ESG reporting. The framework helps ensure that our decisions are based on both experience and documented data.
Our focus areas
Environment
Our most significant environmental impact derives from fuel consumption across our fleet, an inherent condition of the towage industry where alternatives to fossil fuels remain limited.
In 2024, our scope 1 emissions amounted to 3,251.3 tCO₂e, of which 99.6 percent originated from vessel operations. We continuously work on optimising operations, fuel management, and maintenance to ensure efficient and responsible use of resources.
Social matters
Our employees are the crew that make every operation possible. In 2024, our crews completed more than 3,000 training hours, strengthening competencies in safety, manoeuvring, and technical operations.
Safety and collaboration are firmly embedded in our culture, and we actively contribute to training and competence development through social employment initiatives.
We also support the education of future maritime professionals. With 23 social employments in 2024, primarily unskilled ship assistants, we provide young people and adults with the opportunity to complete an education pathway where no school-based apprenticeship scheme exists. In this way, our vessels play an important role in their journey towards a skilled career at sea.
Business conduct
We take responsibility from the bridge. Our business conduct is founded on integrity, accountability, and respect for the international regulations governing our operations.
Our activities are aligned with compliance requirements, including MARPOL, SOLAS, and MLC, and we have implemented an external whistleblower scheme to support ethical conduct and transparency.
Our way forward
Drawing on nearly five decades of experience from ports and coastlines, our ESG work helps us set a clear course for the years ahead. We continue to strengthen our data foundation and develop new initiatives that enhance our understanding of our impacts, knot by knot.
In 2025, we will initiate assessments of concrete transition measures suited to our business and develop relevant policies and procedures. We will also continue the dialogue with customers, employees, and partners on a more sustainable future for the towage industry.
Read the full report
Download the ESG Report 2024 below
“LET OUR EXPERIENCE WORK FOR YOU.”
ESG Rapport 2024 (DAN)
ESG Report 2024 (ENG)
