The construction of the first of the three bunker-type ships ordered by the Fleet Modernization and Expansion Program (Promef) began on April 26, by the shipyard Superpesa, in Rio de Janeiro. The start of the works, celebrated with the cutting of the first steel plate, is Superpesa’s premiere in Promef, which already mobilizes the shipyards Ilha S.A (Eisa), Atlântico Sul (EAS), and Mauá, and anticipates the ordering of 49 vessels.
The ships ordered from Superpesa will have the purpose of refueling other vessels and, for this reason, they were designed with devices to increase their lateral mooring and maneuvering capacity. Measuring 91.85 meters in length, with a draft of 4.5 meters, each bunker ship will have a storage capacity of up to 4 thousand cubic meters of fuel oil and/or diesel oil.
Altogether, 3.6 thousand tons of steel will be used for the construction of the three ships. The first two vessels will be put to sea in 2012 and the last in 2013. The contract with the shipyard is worth R$ 110.5 million and, during the course of the works, 500 direct jobs and two thousand indirect jobs will be created.
The naval construction program of Transpetro, which is one of the mainstays of the Growth Acceleration Program (GAP), has already created over 15 thousand direct jobs in Brazil. During the course of Promef, 40 thousand direct jobs and 160 thousand indirect jobs will be created.
With the program, the expectation is that the fleet of Transpetro will exceed 110 ships in 2014. Today, Brazil is already the fourth country in number of orders placed for oil tankers in the world.
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Source: Transpetro, April 29, 2011.