South American Rivers News

One of South America’s leading push boat operators is on its way to completing a fleet-wide retrofit to Thordon’s water lubricated tailshaft and rudder bearings.In 2014, Argentinian owner Atria Logistics UABL, which operates a fleet of workboats on the Paraná River, installed Thordon’s RiverTough tailshaft bearings to its first push boat, the 135-foot-long Concepcion. In 2020, six more vessels in the company’s 26-strong fleet were converted.Egnard Bernal, Thordon Bearing’s Business Development Manager…

Prominent on this year's prestigous MarineNews MN100 list is Robert Allan Ltd. Robert Allan Ltd. is a recognized world leader in innovative Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering with a particular focus on harbor and seagoing tugs, shallow draft towing vessels and fireboats for major world ports. Robert Allan Ltd. has won many awards for their design work from a variety of publications and other organizations.The Company:Robert Allan Ltd. is Canada’s most senior consulting Naval Architectural firm, established in Vancouver, B.C. in 1930.

Long a staple for offshore service providers, a more compact and carefully designed version of the diesel electric option is now available for inland pushboats. For budget conscious operators (and who isn’t, in this environment?), the stars may finally be aligned.For many years, electric propulsion has proven to be a viable propulsion solution for many different types of vessels. Most familiar to workboat stakeholders would be the advent of the ‘diesel electric’ offshore serve providers (OSV) that became commonplace during the offshore boom era. Those vessels operated in a different regulatory environment, with the emphasis more leaning towards operational efficiencies and fuel economy.

South American river tugboats need robust rudder bushings: some 20 tug boats on the Parana River, running through Brazil, Paraguay and Argentina, have been equipped with Vesconite rudder bushings. In the challenging waters of South American rivers, tugboat owners began ordering Vesconite’s proprietary thermoplastic rudder bushings starting in 2014. Convinced that the material – which is wear resistant, self-lubricating, environmentally-friendly, requires no grease, and easy to machine and fit – was more suitable than the bronze that has traditionally been used in the application…

Damen has commenced construction of two identical Crane Barge 6324 vessels. Designed as a particularly cost effective transshipment platform, the barges are being built on a speculative basis in response to client demands to ensure short delivery times. Damen’s Crane Barge 6324 is a low cost transshipment barge designed for ship-to- ship, ship-to- barge or ship-to- quay operations. The design is also suitable for flexible harbour services being able to tranship dry bulk, containers and breakbulk. The 63-metre long vessel boasts 750m 2 of deck space, with additional below-deck lashing stores. “These Crane Barges are perfectly suited for shifting coal, iron and agribulk materials – all of which are internationally important commodities.” comments Design Engineer Hugo Hoekstra.

At the Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co. Ltd. (DSME) yard in Okpo, Korea, Hamburg Süd christened the largest-ever container ship in the company's history. The "Rio de la Plata" is the first newbuilding in a series of six identical vessels each possessing a slot capacity of 5,900 TEU. At a length of 286 m, the "Rio" class is precisely one bay longer than the 5,552 TEU "Monte" class vessels. Sponsor of the "Rio de la Plata" is Marén Schröder, daughter of Dr. Ernst F. Schröder, personally liable partner of Dr. August Oetker KG, Bielefeld. Following her delivery on 2 April 2008, the "Rio de la Plata" will initially be phased into…

A new 10,000-dwt product carrier specially built with a shallow draft was built at the Frisian Shipyard, Welgelegen in the Netherlands, and named Asprella. The double-hulled vessel, leased from Pritchard Gordon Tankers Ltd. and chartered by Shell, is purpose built for shallow draft trade, and will be employed by Shell for trade on South American Rivers for Shell's activities based in the Caribbean. "Asprella will enable Shell to continue developing its strenght in the niche product market for specailist vessels, thereby adding value to the bottom line," said Jeff Jarman, Shipping Portfolio Manager for Shell Trading, as quoted in the April edition of Shell's house magazine. Asprella was named by Elisabeth De Cuba, wife of John De Cuba, who was, until recently, G.M.

Stewart & Stevenson Services, Inc., based in Harvey, La., has delivered a towboat, Espiritu Paraguayo, to Asuncion, Paraguay to Navegacion Paraguaya Americana S.A., a company affiliated with the South American barge line ventures of Allen Mott. This is the third towboat purchased by Mott from Stewart & Stevenson, and the fourth towboat powered by Electro-Motive Division of General Motors (EMD) engines by S&S for Mott and Mott's affiliates. Espiritu Paraguayo was completed using the hull of Senator Eastland, previously owned by Brent Towing Co., Inc., Greenville, Miss., which burned in 1989 on the Arkansas River. After the fire, the vessel was towed to Superior Boat Works, Inc., in Greenville, and the machinery and deckhouse was removed and the hull was painted and stored.

A barge transporting a large quantity of petroleum moves slowly down the middle of the Parana River in South America. Though it is early evening, the pilot is enclosed in torrid heat, fetid smells from the jungle's rotting vegetation, rampant palms that reach toward him on each side of the river, and the strange, floating beauty of blue and purple hyacinths, now swaying in his wake. The insect cries are deafening, louder than a New York subway. He does not pause to swat a mosquito, for there are none. Too small for this world, they have themselves been devoured by the far more populous insects half a foot long. Floating beside the barge are frogs larger than a small dog, the easy prey of jacares, another bloated amphibian that can outgrow a crocodile.