OREANDA-NEWS. Transpetro and the Estaleiro Atlantico Sul (EAS) shipyard launched to sea on Friday, August 23, the Suezmax vessel Dragao do Mar, the third tanker built in Northeastern Brazil for the Fleet Modernization and Expansion Program (Promef).

The launch to sea is the next-to-last stage in the construction of a ship before its final delivery to the rigger to begin operating. The vessel is now entering its final finishing stage, at the shipyard itself, in Pernambuco. It will then be submitted to seaworthiness testing, which checks its performance in a short trip.

Named after the Ceara hero in the struggle for the abolition of slavery, Dragao do Mar's nautical godmother is official Vanessa Cunha, the first mate of the Romulo Almeida product vessel, which was also built for Promef. The ship is part of a series of ten identical tankers commissioned from the EAS and which celebrate outstanding figures in Brazilian history. Two of them are already in operation: Joao Candido, delivered in May 2012, and Zumbi dos Palmares, in operation since May 2013.

“The new Brazilian naval industry is now in pursuit of achieving international competitiveness. We will build ships not only for Brazil, but for the world. We have the expertise needed to turn our shipbuilding into the best in the world. With the union of all - steel workers, executives and sea workers - Brazil will reach the podium,” said Transpetro CEO, Sergio Machado, during the launching ceremony.

The Suezmax tanker is 274 meters long, 51 meters tall, 48 meters wide and can carry a million barrels of oil, equivalent to almost half of the daily domestic production. The name Suezmax is due to the draft of this type of vessel, 17 meters, compatible with the passage through the Suez Canal, which connects the Mediterranean to the Red Sea.

In 18 months, five Promef vessels came into operation

In a period spawning 18 months (from November 2011 to May 2013), Transpetro received five vessels built by Brazilian shipyards. Product vessels Celso Furtado, Sergio Buarque de Holanda, and Romulo Almeida, delivered by the Maua Shipyard, from Niteroi (RJ); and Suezmax tankers Joao Candido and Zumbi dos Palmares, built by EAS in Ipojuca (PE), went into operation. In addition to Dragao do Mar, product vessel Jose Alencar, which is under construction at the Maua Shipyard, is scheduled for delivery and to begin operating later this year.

With investments in the order of USD 10.8 billion in the commissioning of 49 vessels, Promef set the foundation for the resurgence of the Brazilian shipbuilding industry, allowing new shipyards to open and modernizing existing ones. Before the program, the Brazilian naval industry had not delivered any tankers to Petrobras for 14 years.

Today, Brazil already has the third largest oil tanker order portfolio in the world. The industry, which at one time hired fewer than 2,000 workers, is now more than 70,000 strong.

Promef was created based on three premises: Build ships in Brazil; have a minimum level of local content of 65%, and achieve international competitiveness after the learning curve. With the completion of the first two premises, the program has contributed to getting the shipping industry out of its inertia.

The third premise of the program, the quest for international competitiveness, is the current focus. To achieve this goal, Transpetro created the Production Monitoring System (PMS), which was designed to evaluate the shipyards' productive processes and suggest alternatives for improving productivity.