Wilson Sons, leader in port and maritime logistics in Brazil, has entered a new collaborative arrangement with TechnipFMC to dry-dock vessels at its shipyards in Guarujá (São Paulo), in the Port of Santos, Latin America’s leading port facility. The vessel Cábrea Vitória Lift 1, owned by TechnipFMC, a global leader in the offshore energy industry, has been docked at Wilson Sons shipyards for the five yearly dry-docking and maintenance service required to have its Shipping Safety Certification renewed. This is the second dry-docking commissioned by TechnipFMC to Wilson Sons — the previous one took place in 2018.

Dry-docking is a mandatory preventive maintenance task carried out every five years, in which the vessel is taken out of the water for an overhaul. Maintenance on the crane vessel Cábrea Vitória included overhauling gearboxes, pulleys, engines and pumps; cleaning, treating and painting the hull and tanks; substituting anodes; structural repairing, servicing the cooling system (piping) of the main engines; and inspecting valves and wire ropes used to hoist cargo.

With two shipyard facilities totalling 39,000 m² for ship building, conversion, maintenance and repair, Wilson Sons is the only company that owns a dry dock in the Santos port facility, offering pioneering and innovative service solutions.

The company's shipyard in Guarujá which is located in the Port of Santos (São Paulo) dry-docks TechnipFMC vessel Cábrea Vitória

“This is a significant collaboration because, after five years, TechnipFMC returns to Wilson Sons’ shipyard, which offers customised solutions with a complete infrastructure to meet a wide range of shipbuilding industry demands, including dry-docking and an 80-tonne gantry crane. Our shipyard ensures safe and efficient operations aiming at client satisfaction as well as to exceed their expectations," said Wilson Sons shipyards executive director Adalberto Souza, who further adds: "Our objective is to provide good quality customised dry-docking services within the agreed deadlines and following a transparent approach. TechnipFMC doing business with us again means that, in the first dry-docking, we presented technical solutions that met their requirements while fulfilling the contract specifications, especially the deadline. We are very pleased with this collaboration.”

Cábrea Vitória has a 400-ton lifting capacity. It loads and unloads steel coils in Vitória, in Espírito Santo. The dry-docking lasted one month and was completed in March, with the support of Wilson Sons tugboats to move the crane barge into the dry dock.

While the vessel was in dry dock, about 100 Wilson Sons employees were directly and indirectly involved in the services, including technicians, engineers, welders, painters and other specialised personnel. Upon completing the project, TechnipFMC responded to a satisfaction survey and gave the highest score for yards "Ability to do collaborative work and understand the client's needs (such as supervising the tasks and being flexible enough to accept contract amendments)."

“We have chosen Wilson Sons, for the second time, because it has good technical capacity, a competitive edge and meets the agreed deadlines. Besides, it is in line with our principles of ethics and transparency," said Marco Perez, Supply manager at TechnipFMC.

With this collaboration, Wilson Sons and TechnipFMC reaffirm their commitment to offering innovative high-quality solutions for the offshore energy industry in Brazil. The benefits of dry-docking include extending the useful life of vessels, avoiding unplanned downtimes, preventing accidents and ensuring compliance with regulations.

In 2022, Wilson Sons delivered the first two of a range of six new more sustainable tugs built in its Guarujá shipyards, which will join its fleet by 2024. With the delivery of WS Centaurus and WS Orion, the company reached the mark of 150 vessels built in its shipyards. The 90-ton bollard pull vessels are part of Brazil’s largest and most powerful fleet of 80 tugboats. They are already in operation, serving the largest bulk carriers currently calling at the Brazilian ports, with vessels reaching 400,000 tons deadweight.

These new tugs are the first in Brazil with the IMO TIER III pollution prevention standard established by the International Maritime Organization. With a new hull design for greater manoeuvre efficiency, the new tugboats offer 14% less greenhouse gas emissions and help improve the air quality at the ports where they operate.