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The barges were built by the Spanish Galictio-Tiferey consortium and they will be operated by Transfluvial.
The official christening of the third barge built in Uruguay for Montes del Plata, named “Playa de las Cañas”, was held today at noon. With this barge, Transfluvial completes its fleet of four ships that will transport the logs that will feed the pulp mill located at Punta Pereira, in the department of Colonia.
The three barges were built in Uruguay by the Uruguayan-Spanish Galictio-Tiferey consortium, and 80% of local workforce was employed in the process.
Transfluvial (Nodus, Ultratug and E.T.E consortium), will operate this river transportation system, that consists of four barges and two push tugs and required a 19 million dollar investment. During the event, general manager of Montes del Plata, Luis María Rodríguez, said to be proud of the joint efforts of private and State entities and pointed out the contribution of the project to the generation of skilled workforce in Uruguay.
During the event, general manager of Montes del Plata, Luis María Rodríguez, said to be proud of the joint efforts of private and State entities and pointed out the contribution of the project to the generation of skilled workforce in Uruguay.
Likewise, Rodríguez highlighted that the fleet represents a “qualitative step”, in terms of logistics in the country. He explained, “The use of these barges entails many benefits regarding preservation of national routes, accident prevention, in addition to the evident positive environmental impact due to the saving of greenhouse gas emissions”.
“This new milestone evidences once again our company’s commitment to sustainable development at the service of the country’s foreign trade”, pointed Gonzalo Tapia, president of Transfluvial. And he added, “This is a commitment that we crystallize by investing, taking risks, by permanently thinking of Uruguay in the future and the possibility of creating more and better sources of employment, and of fully satisfying the needs of our clients, aiming at logistic efficiency and peaceful coexistence with the environment.”
Roberto Kreimerman, Minister of Industry, Energy and Mining stressed the growth recorded in the Uruguayan productive structure, and situated the shipping industry as part of this process. “We are promoting this industry with the vision of an increasing industrialization of Uruguay. Only skilled work and the introduction of knowledge is, in the end, what provides stability to the productive structure of countries”, affirmed the Minister.
The secretary general for the National Union of Workers of Metal and Related Industries (Unión Nacional de Trabajadores del Metal y Ramas Afines – UNTMRA), Marcelo Abdala, was also present at the gathering and he congratulated Montes del Plata for “its commitment with the country”. Additionally, he ended his speech by indicating that the building of these barges evidences that in Uruguay, “things can be done properly and in highly sophisticated manner”.
For its logistic operation of moving wood to the plant, Montes del Plata designed a bi-modal transport system that foresees moving up to 4 million tons of wood per year, of which approximately 50% will be transported by river and the other 50% by land.
This operation denotes a qualitative leap in the use of river transportation and provides multiple benefits as regards preservation of the road infrastructure, security and saving of greenhouse gas emissions as compared to land transportation.
Each of the four barges has a length of 90 meters and a capacity of 5,000 tons, equivalent to the load of 170 trucks.
The barges will load wood at M´Bopicuá Logistics Terminal (department of Río Negro) and transport it to Punta Pereira, on an ongoing basis, all year long.
After the flagging of the fourth barge and two push tugs, Transfluvial has become one of the largest national shipping companies as regards its cargo capacity. The river transportation system will employ a crew of 35 Uruguayans.
