Sulnorte completes latest tug newbuilding series in Brazil
By Martyn Wingrove
Sulnorte Maritime Services has taken delivery of its latest newbuild harbour tugboat as it expands its fleet in Brazil to raise towage and ship-handling capabilities in the nation’s busiest ports.
The Brazilian owner welcomed and officially named SN Caraíva after its construction by Rio Maguari Shipyard in Brazil as part of a three-vessel series.
SN Caraíva, with more than 75 tonnes of bollard pull, was constructed, along with 2025-built SN Acaraú and SN Cariri, to ABS class and Robert Allan Ltd’s RAmparts 2300 design.
These 23-m azimuth stern drive tugs have a moulded beam of 11 m, a hull depth of 4 m, a FiFi1 off-ship fire-fighting system, and a pair of Caterpillar diesel engines driving two Kongsberg Z-drives.
SN Cariri has a bollard pull of 63 tonnes and a free running speed of 12 knots. Its propulsion consists of two Caterpillar 3516C diesel engines, rated at 1,641 kW at 1,600 rpm, driving Kongsberg US205S Z-drives with 2,400 mm diameter fixed-pitch propellers.
Its electrical system includes two Caterpillar C4.4 diesel generators, each producing 99 ekW at 230 V, 3-phase, 60 Hz. It also has a Krasival-supplied winch for ship towage.
“SN Caraíva was designed to offer high operational efficiency, safety in manoeuvres and robustness in operations of greater complexity,” said Sulnorte.
“Its arrival reinforces the company’s strategy of investing in high-performance assets to meet the demands of the main ports in Brazil.”
SN Caraíva was named in the Port of Rio de Janeiro at the start of September and has been mobilised to Santos where has joined SN Cariri in assisting larger ships into the harbour. According to automatic identification system data, SN Acaraú is operating in Salvador.
“SN Caraíva marks an important step in Sulnorte’s fleet expansion and renewal plan, with the incorporation of a series of three new tugboats to the fleet,” said Sulnorte.