The Armón group wins a “mega order” in Panama for ten tugboats for 142 million

2023-10-07 15:18:33

The group Shipyards Harmon has just been awarded one of its largest contracts by volume of units and economic amount. As already happened in 2011, the Panama Canal Port Authority trusts the company with two factories in Vigo – the San Gregorio curve and the old Barreras – to complete a megaorder of 10 tugboats for a total amount of almost 150 million dollars, about 142 million euros at the current exchange rate. An assignment that, in addition, includes the option to add another dozen unitswhich would raise the value to a total of 315 million dollars, that is, almost 300 million euros.

The Panama Canal has been working for several years to resolve a tender to provide itself with more tugboats with which to assist the huge number of merchant vessels and large ships that take advantage of the passage that connects the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.

The “Cerro Pando”, built in 2013 by Armón. GRACE

According to the Port Authority’s contracting page, Armón was ahead of two giants such as the Dutch shipyard Damen and the Turkish Sanmar Shipyard, which the Spanish group far surpassed in terms of economic offer. So, Damen raised a total of $447.5 million for twenty units (422.7 million euros), while Sanmar raised 514.8 million dollars (486.2). With 314.8 million dollars, Armón’s offer is almost 30% lower than the next one.

Thus, once the contract is formalized – an essential requirement to activate the order – the Asturian group led by Laudelino Alperi and José Ramón Fernández will build each of the top ten tugboats for 14.1 million euros at the current exchange rate. If the extension of the contract with the optional units is finalized, each one will have a price of 15.6. The total amount includes a training of future crew members of the ships, with a cost of 875,000 dollars (826,000 euros).

As confirmed by this medium, the Armón factory in Navia, with a low workload and specialized in this type of boat, will be in charge of bringing the construction to a successful conclusion. Of course, the hypothetical activation of the order expansion would mean a significant increase, so there is the possibility that another shipyard in the group could participate, as has already happened on other occasions.

Previous megaorder Armón also took it from the Panama Canal. It was in 2011 and, on that occasion, It involved the supply of 14 tugboats tractor type of 70 tons for a total amount of $158.3 millionwhich then amounted to 118.3 million euros and which today would be equivalent to almost 150. The first two were presented in Panama in June 2013. Those were almost 30 meters in length.

According to the Canal’s website, the current tugboat fleet is made up of 46 units.

Vigo

Regarding the two factories in the olive city, Armón continues to bid for new contracts that can be finalized in the near future. Meanwhile, progress is made in those that are already under construction. In recent weeks, the oceanographic ship was launched for the NIWA in New Zealand, in addition to beginning the cutting of sheet metal for the research vessel that will become the jewel in the crown of the NIOZ in Holland.