Wilson Sons to renew fleet with three new eco-friendly tugboats

In an effort to renew its existing 80-vessel-strong fleet, Brazilian shipping company Wilson Sons is preparing to commence the construction of a new range of three “super powerful” tugboats fitted with eco-friendly technology.

As informed, the new tugboats will be built at the company’s shipyard in Guarujá, São Paulo and are slated for delivery dates in November 2025, March and June 2026.

The vessels will reportedly possess a length of 23 meters and a width of 12 meters, with azimuth propulsion and 70 tons of bollard pull. According to Wilson Sons, these features will allow the tugs to support 366-meter ‘super containerships’ on docking and undocking maneuvers in Brazil’s main ports.

In addition to this, thanks to funds granted from the Merchant Navy Fund (FMM), the three tugboats are set to feature a fire-fighting system, as well, with a capacity of 2,400 liters/h. Other elements, Wilson Sons has disclosed, include the main engine with fewer cylinders and a twin-fin hull design engineered by Dutch shipbuilder Damen Shipyards.

As a result, the vessels are projected to bring down greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, while, owing to the twin-fin hull, there could be a 14% reduction in the consumption of fossil fuels.

As explained, the new tugs will be compliant with the International Maritime Organization’s (IMO) TIER III standard that attests to the reduction of up to 70% of nitrogen oxide (NOx), much like the series of six 90-ton tugboats delivered over the previous building cycle.

Compliant to the standard were also the four separate tugs—a project that was developed by Damen— also built at the group’s shipyard in Guarujá. The ships were reported to have 80 tons of bollard pull, with a length of 25 meters and a width of 13 meters, with Escort Tug class notation.

To remind, in an effort to bolster its operations and further aid its sustainability efforts, Wilson Sons shook hands with ABB back in May 2023, selecting their Optical Character Recognition (OCR) system for ship-to-shore (SIS) gantry cranes at the Rio Grande container terminal, together with a QuayPro module that digitalizes container stowage confirmation processes.