SAAM Towage, the largest towage operator in the Americas, will add two new state‑of‑the‑art units to its fleet: the SAAM Petrel and the SAAM Charrán, according to the company's release.
These modern ships, designed by Robert Allan and built at the Sanmar shipyard in Turkey, are named in homage to seabirds native to the coasts of Chile and Peru, in line with a SAAM Towage tradition dating back 60 years to the company’s founding.
“This acquisition is a key part of SAAM Towage’s investment plan for this year, which seeks to continue optimizing our operational capacity and service offering to strengthen our presence in both countries,” said Chile‑Peru Country Manager Cristián Cifuentes.
The SAAM Petrel is on its way to the Port of Arica in Chile, and boasts an IMO Tier III certified emission control system for the reduction of nitrous oxides (NOx), making it the first in the country’s fleet with these features.
The SAAM Charrán will operate at the Port of Callao in Peru, where he already docked. Both tugs, which are certified under the Fire Fighting 1 (FiFi 1) standard, will supply terminal services, providing crucial support for vessel berthing and deberthing maneuvers at their respective ports.
With these additions, the average age of the SAAM Towage fleet in both countries reaches 13 years with a bollard pull (BP) of 65 metric tons.
Each tug measures 24.4 m in length and 12 m in width, with bollard pull of 80 metric tons and a maximum speed of 13 knots. They are powered by 2,350 kW Caterpillar engines, each achieving 1,800 rev/min.
With the Rampart 2500SX MKII design, they offer high maneuverability and versatility, especially for assisting large vessels in space‑restricted harbors.
SAAM Towage is a corporate entity specializing in towage services, operating across 104 ports in 12 countries in the Americas. As the largest towage operator in the region, it maintains a diverse fleet including multiple Boğaçay Class and ElectRA Series tugs.
SANMAR Shipyards (Sanmar Shipyards A. Ş.) is a Turkish shipbuilding company headquartered in Tuzla, Türkiye. SANMAR builds vessels using exclusive designs by Robert Allan Ltd.
Robert Allan Ltd is a Canadian naval architecture firm specialising in tugboat and workboat designs.