Svitzer is upgrading and more than doubling its fleet of Brazilian flag tugs in 2017, unveiling a new service in Paranagua and announcing a new Managing Director and Commercial Director for Brazil.

Two new Brazilian-flag tugs are starting operations at the Paranagua Port in January 2017, strengthening Svitzer’s position in the south of the country where it already operates at Sao Francisco do Sul and Itapoa.

SVITZER Unveils New Service In Paranagua Deepens Investment And Presence In Brazil

Photo for illustrative purposes only - Image courtesy of SVITZER

Additionally, Svitzer is building four new tugs at Inace shipyard in Fortaleza and expects delivery in the second half of 2017. This means Svitzer will have 10 Brazilian-flag ships in operation by year-end.

Recently, Svitzer started operations in Argentina with nine tugs, assigning there some of the foreign-flag ships originally brought to Brazil in 2015. Indeed, the global market leader in towage and emergency response is deepening its commitment to Latin America’s biggest economy with fresh investments as part of a broader BRL200 million programme announced in 2015.

On top of this, Svitzer, which is part of Maersk Group and also operates a PSV in Brazil, has appointed Rutger Thulin to head operations. Thulin is the former CFO for Svitzer in Europe, where Svitzer operates 110 tugs. Thulin is joined by Ricardo Costa, who worked for four years at Sulnorte and a further 12 years at Hapag Lloyd.

Thulin explains why Svitzer increases its presence in Brazil even at the height of difficult times for the Brazilian shipping market:

“There is strong demand for a provider that offers world-class services, best practices, reliability and punctuality in Brazil, and this is especially important for our portfolio of global and local clients”, says Thulin. “Paranagua is part of our growth strategy and strengthens our position in the south of Brazil as we continue to invest in Brazilian flag ships.”

The new Paranagua vessels - 77 and 75 TBP tugs – are of Robert Allan design and were built at the Cheoy Lee Shipyard.

Source: Svitzer