Marking The Sad End Of One Of Transpetro’s Ships, Oil Tanker Partially Sinks At Mauá Shipyard

After 6 Years Moored at the Shipyard and 95% of the Work Completed, the Oil Tanker IRMÃ DULCE from Transpetro Ended Up Succumbing to Abandonment and Lack of Maintenance

The NT (Oil Tanker) IRMÃ DULCE from Transpetro suffered flooding in its engine room and partially sank at the dock of Mauá Shipyard in Niterói (RJ). After being moored for 6 years with no prospects for continuing its construction, the ship may have sustained structural damage from the time without maintenance or have had some important item “cannibalized” (a term used in the shipbuilding industry when an item is taken from one vessel to be used on another).

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Ships that were once considered the great “boom” of shipbuilding, after all, Transpetro contracted 42 of them from national shipyards, are now rotting at their finishing docks and, in dire straits, the shipyards have laid off their employees and created the biggest crisis that national shipbuilding has ever seen.

The Irmã Dulce was the second constructed of a sequence of four oil tankers of the Panamax type, ordered by Transpetro from the Mauá shipyard in Niterói (RJ) as part of its Fleet Modernization and Expansion Program (Promef). It was launched in 2014 and is now approximately 95% completed. In 2015, Transpetro canceled the construction contract for the oil tankers.

The series of four oil tankers of the Panamax type will be named in honor of women who helped shape Brazil’s history. The first was the Anita Garibaldi, which was also abandoned in the finishing phase at the same shipyard. Used for the transport of oil and dark derivatives, these ships are 228 meters long and can carry 90.2 million liters.

The Mauá shipyard stated that it will investigate the incident and will provide more details later, but the vessel is stabilized and pumping operations have already begun. It is known that the ship was not carrying fuel or any other product that could cause environmental impacts and that the draft at the location is 4 meters, which should prevent further sinking of the vessel’s stern.

By Renato Oliveira – Naval Structures Engineer