Source: Ports and Ships / Danilo Oliveira
Transpetro, a wholly owned subsidiary of Petrobras, and the consortium formed by the Rio Grande and Mac Laren shipyards signed a contract on Monday (24) for the acquisition of four Handy class vessels, valued at US$ 69,5 million per vessel. The vessels will be used to transport petroleum derivatives along the Brazilian coast.
The event took place at the Rio Grande Shipyard in Rio Grande do Sul, and was attended by the President of the Republic, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, the Vice President, Geraldo Alckmin, the Minister of Mines and Energy, Alexandre Silveira, and other authorities. This is the first contract to be signed by Transpetro under the Petrobras System Fleet Renewal and Expansion Program.
Last week, the company launched a bidding process for the acquisition of eight gas tankers under the same Program. “For us, it is essential to expand our own fleet of vessels and reduce our charter costs, because our production and refining capacity will increase in the coming years. As part of the fleet renewal and expansion program, we are contracting 44 vessels, which will be essential to support our operations. All of them have already been contracted or are in the bidding process. These are investments of R$23 billion, a strong incentive for the development of the national shipbuilding industry,” explained Petrobras CEO Magda Chambriard.
Transpetro CEO Sérgio Bacci emphasized that this is just the first contract the company has planned. “The acquisition of the Handy class vessels is just the beginning of the renewal and expansion of our fleet. Last week, in Angra dos Reis, we launched a tender for eight more gas tankers. And we intend to launch future tenders to contract at least 13 more vessels by 2026, expanding Transpetro’s logistics capacity by up to 25%,” said Bacci.
The consortium between the Rio Grande and Mac Laren shipyards presented a final price of US$ 69,5 million per vessel and won the bid, launched in July 2024, after all stages of the notice were completed. The new vessels will increase Transpetro's service capacity to Petrobras, allowing it to reduce its exposure to chartering this type of unit, which has low liquidity in the market.
The Handys will feature solutions that ensure greater energy efficiency and lower greenhouse gas emissions. In addition, the vessels will be able to be fueled with bunker fuel or biofuels. As a result, emissions are estimated to be reduced by 30% compared to current vessels in the fleet, in compliance with the requirements of the International Maritime Organization (IMO). The vessels will be able to transport light petroleum-derived products, such as marine diesel, S10 diesel, S500 diesel and aviation gasoline (GAV).