The Center for Fluvial, Fishing and Maritime Cabotage Officers of the Argentine Republic and its General Secretary Julio González Insfrán launched an original project for the construction of an LNG-powered tugboat to transport large tonnages of cargo by river. The initiative is in the stage of seeking financing from private capital for its construction in Río Paraná Sur Shipyard.
The enthusiasm generated by this project is due to the fact that this type of vessel would allow to drastically reduce the environmental impact and the logistical costs of the fluvial transport of loads, to take advantage of an environmentally-friendly fuel that Argentina will have in great quantity from Vaca Muerta resources, and provide a strong competitiveness factor for the recovery of the Argentine merchant marine, with the consequent generation of thousands of jobs.
According to the engineer and businessman Daniel De Monte, owner of Río Paraná Sur Shipyard that is in charge of the technical project for the 4500-6000HP tug, the initiative could be completed in about a year and a half, from the granting of the necessary capital.
“The Argentine naval industry already has the capacity to do so and all that remains is to define the details of the financing,” said De Monte about the construction of the first 100% nationally designed and manufactured push tugboat, powered by an eco-friendly fuel.
