Svitzer is to modernise and expand its fleet in the Americas with two new ASD tugboats and one workboat.
The three newbuilds will bring the A.P. Moller-Maersk company’s fleet to 82 vessels operating in ports and terminals across 12 countries in the region.
Arjen van Dijk, managing director Svitzer Americas welcomed the Svitzer Abaco, Svitzer Isabela and Svitzer Moín. “They are all vital to our fleet renewal and expansion strategy, which will enable us to continue to meet our customers’ demands as well as ensure safe, reliable and efficient operations,” he said.
“We will continue to expand and renew our fleet in the coming years, and in 2023 we will start taking delivery of the newbuilds that were ordered for our Brazil operations last year.”
The two new tugboats will service Svitzer’s operations in the Bahamas and the Dominican Republic, while the new workboat is bound for the company’s operations in Costa Rica.
The Svitzer Isabela, which will be deployed to the Dominican Republic, is named after the first established Spanish town in the Dominican Republic. She is a 70 tonne bollard-pull ASD tug from the Ramparts 2400SX series and will be delivered by Turkish shipyard Sanmar.
The Svitzer Abaco, which will be deployed to the Bahamas, is also a 70 tonne bollard-pull ASD tug but from the Damen 2312 series. She is named after a Bahamian Island and will delivered by the Damen shipyard in Vietnam.
The Svitzer Moín is a survey vessel built at Besiktas Shipyard in Turkey. She will be put to use performing regular surveys of the water depths at the APM Terminal Moín in Costa Rica to determine when dredging is required, as the port is slowly silting.
All three newbuilds are expected to be fully operational by the end of November 2022.
