Owners expand harbour fleets in Americas

Owners have taken delivery of more powerful and efficient tugboats to enhance ship towage and handling in ports from Canada to Chile

Tug owners in Latin America have invested to modernise their fleets and expand towage operations into new markets as the region’s ports have been extended and larger ships have arrived. Towage demand was buoyed by additional maritime trade to and from South and Central America ports and within the Caribbean as new terminals are opened and existing ports are expanded.

Some of the biggest towage and marine service providers in the region added harbour and escort tugs to their fleets. SAAM Towage was the leader in fleet expansion in 2022 with additions in Chile, Panama and Peru

In Chile, SAAM Towage named Mataquito II in Valparaíso and Halcón III in San Vicente in September, following their arrival in Q3 2022. They were built by Sanmar Shipyards to designs by Robert Allan Ltd (RAL).

Mataquito II is a Bigacay-class, 29-m escort and fire-fighting tugboat of RAstar 2900SX design with twin azimuth Z-drives on the stern, providing more than 80 tonnes of bollard pull.

Halcón III is a Bogacay-series compact tug, built to a RAmparts 2400SX design, with 4,200-kW of propulsion power and an overall length of 24 m.

SAAM Towage also welcomed SAAM Condor to the Port of Callao, Peru, in July, and SAAM Quibian in Panama, in October. Both were built by Sanmar as Bogacay series tugs to a RAmparts 2400SX design, with 70 tonnes of bollard pull and top speeds of 13 knots.

During 2022, SAAM Towage completed its acquisition of Ian Taylor’s operations in Peru, as part of its long-term strategy to grow the towage business across South America.

In October, SAAM Group announced its plans to sell its terminals to Hapag-Lloyd and concentrate on building its growing towage business.

Through this agreement, Hapag-Lloyd will gain operation and management of 10 port terminals throughout six countries in the Americas, plus bonded warehouses and integrated logistics operations for importers and exporters.

Also in the Port of Valparaíso, Chile, CPT Towage named two tugs it added to the fleet in 2021. Coloso and Poderoso were built to a RAL design and with 86 tonnes of bollard-pull, coming from total power of 5,050 kW.

These 492-gt tugs have FiFi1 fire-fighting systems and equipment for dealing with maritime emergencies and oil pollution. CPT said they each have a remote monitoring system, which allows data and artificial intelligence models to be used to reduce fuel consumption, predict the need for maintenance, and better plan commercial activities.

In Q2 2022, CPT added Azapa to the Chilean fleet after its construction by Cheoy Lee Shipyards to a RAL RAmparts 2500-CL design. This 348-gt tug has an overall length of 25-m, beam of 12 m, a draught of 5.2 m and 70 tonnes of bollard pull.

In July, Chile-based shipbuilder Astilleros ASENAV launched the first tug of its ASD 25/11M design for Remolcadores Ultratug into the Calle Calle River. Grey is a 25-m tug, with a beam of 11 m and bollard pull of 70 tonnes.

ASENAV started building this first speculative project in Q3 2021 in response to expected growth and modernisation of the maritime industry in Chile. It was completed in September with a FiFi1 class fire-fighting system, with two water monitors, and MAN main diesel engines driving Kongsberg azimuth thrusters.

Ultratug purchased a newbuild ASD tug from Turkish shipbuilder Med Marine for operations in Peru. Brujo is a multipurpose, compact tug with 75 tonnes of bollard pull, FiFi1 fire-fighting system and two Kongsberg-supplied US255 P30 thrusters with fixed-pitch propellers.

Also in Peru, PSA Marine is set to take delivery of PSA Tallan, a new RAmparts 2400W design tug with 70 tonnes of bollard pull, due to be delivered by the end of the year.

In Brazil, Wilson Sons has added two escort tugs, WS Centaurus in July and WS Orion in September, to its fleet in the state of Maranhão. These have 90 tonnes of bollard pull and propulsion compliant with IMO Tier III emissions standards, the first in Brazil.

They were built at the Wilson Sons shipyard in Guarujá as reverse stern drive (RSD) tugs to Damen’s RSD 2513 design with an overall length of 25 m and beam of 13 m.

Hidrovias do Brasil had two pusher tugs built by Uzmar’s shipyard in Turkey for inland waterways operations in Brazil. HB Mapará and HB Dourada will be transported across the Atlantic to start transporting cargo along the north channel of the Amazon River from 2023.

These 46-m, shallow-draught pusher tugs were built to RApide 4600 design, including three Wärtsilä 20 engines.

Caribbean investments

There has also been more modernisation of tugboat fleets in the Caribbean in 2022, with several new tugs introduced to enhance towage capabilities in island ports.

Svitzer has been in the lead with these additions with two tugs, Svitzer Rivas and Svitzer Isobela, brought into the Dominican Republic. These were built by Sanmar in Turkey to a RAmparts 2400SX design, with bollard pull of 70 tonnes and speeds of 12.5 knots.

Svitzer is also adding Svitzer Abaco in the Bahamas after its construction by Damen Shipyards in Vietnam. It is a 23-m, Damen ASD 2312 tug with 70 tonnes of bollard pull.

In Guadeloupe, Caraibes Remorquage took delivery of Piriou-built tug Pointe Vigie 2 in Pointe-à-Pitre. This is a 30.3-m, OST 30-design tug, with 60 tonnes of bollard pull.

In Jamaica, Ocean Group added tug Ocean Blue Mahoe after it was purchased from Med Marine. This ASD, MED-A2575 series tug was built at the Eregli Shipyard to a RAmparts 2500W design and has a bollard pull of 75 tonnes.

In Martinique, Somara added ASD tug Plis Fos to its fleet in Port of Fort de France. Damen built this tug to an ASD 2813 design with IMO Tier III-compliant propulsion and 85.3 tons of bollard pull. Mexicana Maritima added another Damen-built and designed tug, CMM Catrina, in Mexico and in Panama, Boluda Towage added tug VB Condor.