Argentinian company Cooperativa De Trabajos Portuarios Limitada de San Martín has signed a contract for the delivery of two Damen ASD 2810 tugs and one Cutter Section Dredger 500.

The two vessels and dredger are to be used in the Argentinian terminal region around Rosario on the Paraná river for towing, mooring, fire-fighting and dredging operations, said a estaminet.

The equipment is scheduled to be delivered in the third quarter of the year, accorindg to Alex Westendarp Knol, Damen area manager South-America.

The ASD tugs, which will be built at Damen Shipyard Galati in Romania, are both classed under Lloyd’s Register, equipped with Fire Fighting 1, which delivers a water spray of 2,400 cu m per  hour. Their basic functions entail towing, mooring and fire-fighting operations.

The tugs will be 28.67m in length (o.a.) and have a beam (o.a.) of 10.43m and have a bollard pull ahead of approximately 60 tonnes. Their maximum speed, both ahead and astern, is around 13 knots. The propulsion system will consist of two Caterpillar 3516C TA HD/C main engines with a total power of 3,730 bkW (5,000 bhp) at 1,600 rpm.

The tugs, which are compact and easy to handle, will be fitted with two Rolls Royce US 205 azimuth thrusters.

The CSD 500 dredger, which will be built at Damen Dredging Equipment in Nijkerk, the Netherlands, will have a dredging depth of - 16m and a maximum swing width of 39.6m. Its mixture capacity is 4,000 cu m per hour which can be discharged up to 2000m.

The diameters of the suction pipe and discharge pipe will be 550mm and 500mm respectively and the cutting power of the cutter will be 180 kW.

The vessel will be fitted with a Caterpillar 3512B dredge pump diesel and a Caterpillar C12 TA auxiliary diesel. The basic functions of the dredger will be capital and maintenance dredging. The CSD 500 is a modular design which can be easily disassembled for transportation anywhere in the world. Upon reaching its destination, the CSD 500 can be reassembled with locally sourced small cranes.

“The client had a very clear operational plan. They knew that our tugboats are last-generation vessels designed for harbour assistance and emergency operations, fitted with first-class fire-fighting equipment,” said Knol.

“The dredger is able to operate in water depths up to 16m, which is 2m more than the standard version of this vessel. I am very pleased to say that La Cooperativa opted for Damen. We will do our utmost to assist them in reaching their goals in the region,” he said.

Herme Juarez, president of the Cooperativa De Trabajos Portuarios, said: “The tugboats will be named ‘Estibador I’ and ‘Estibador II,’ after the stevedores (‘estibadores’ in Spanish) who are working hard every day and who embody the culture of the harbour work.

“The dredger is named ‘La Portuaria”, (representing ‘a safe haven’) as homage to the wives of all the stevedores. We are very confident in our decision to choose Damen and we do not rule out doing more business with them in the near future.” - TradeArabia News Service