Wilson Sons grows Brazilian capacity as latest low-emissions tug starts work

Wilson Sons said it has started operating tugboat WS Dorado at the Ponta da Madeira, Itaqui and Alumar terminals facilities in São Luís, Maranhão, on Brazil’s northeast coast.

The tug is the fifth tug built by the company with added emissions technology, as part of a range of six 2513-class tugboats designed by Damen Shipyards and built by Wilson Sons.

"The new tug will support berthing and unberthing operations in [the region’s] terminal facilities, attending large ships exporting iron ore, which carry up to 400,000 tonnes of cargo," the company said. 

WS Dorado joins the company’s fleet of 11 tugboats in Brazil’s northeast. At the Ponta da Madeira Terminal, owned by mining company Vale, the tugs support iron ore ships in one of the main exit gateways for iron ore produced in Brazil. Also operating in the Port of Itaqui, the tug will attend ships carrying a host of agricultural and oil products.

Wilson Sons said the replacement of older tugs in one port has a "cascade" effect, pointing to environmental benefits in the port receiving the new tug and added operational efficiency in ports that receive the redeployed, older tugs.

The range of new tugs being built by Wilson Sons have more than 90 tonnes of bollard pull and are the first in Brazil to follow the Tier III emissions standard established by the International Maritime Organization, which reduce up to 70% of nitrogen oxide in the vessel’s emissions. 

With the delivery of WS Dorado, the company reached 153 vessels built in its shipyards. The Brazilian owner has built five high-power, low-emissions 25-m tugs of the initial six it plans to complete. The reverse stern drive tugboats operate fore and aft with the same efficiency, perform port manoeuvres and ocean towage, and have a bollard pull of more than 90 tonnes, a beam of 13 m and a FiFi1 fire-fighting system, which delivers a flow rate of 2,400 m³ of water per hour.

WS Dorado was completed in March 2024 and its first work was to assist the undocking of CMM Offshore’s fast crew supplier Aqua Helix at a Wilson Sons’ shipyard in Guarujá.