Transpetro Invests $239m in Barges & Towboats

Transpetro and Estaleiro Rio Tietê signed in late November, in Ribeirão Preto (SP), an agreement for the construction of 80 barges and 20 tugboats, which will make up convoys for the transportation of ethanol on the Tietê-Paraná Waterway. The new shipyard will be built in Araçatuba (SP).In August, Estaleiro Rio Tietê won the bid for the construction of the new waterway fleet to be operated by Transpetro. The barges and tugboats will cost $ 239.1 million and will begin to be delivered in the final quarter of 2011. The operation of the fleet is scheduled to begin in 2013, consistently with the term for the new terminals that will be established along the waterway. Each convoy will consist of four barges and one tugboat, with a capacity to transport 7.6 million liters. When fully operational, the volume transported annually should reach 4 billion liters.The agreement was executed during the ceremony that marked the start of the construction work for the Integrated System for Transportation of Ethanol of PMCC (a company owned by Petrobras and Camargo Corrêa), in Ribeirão Preto, in the presence of the President of the Republic, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. The agreement for the construction of he convoys was signed by the President of Transpetro, Sergio Machado, and the officers of Estaleiro Rio Tietê, Fábio Vasconcelos and Rodrigo Andrade. “The logistics of the transportation of ethanol on the waterway will be more efficient, producing environmental and economic benefits,” explained Machado.