AMERICAS • COLOMBIA
Astivik shipyard makes repairs to foreign vessels
Shipyards prosper in repair and construction
Ship repairs and naval construction have developed in recent decades along the Caribbean coast of Colombia, principally in Cartagena where larger companies are located.
Astivik Shipyards, founded in 1972 is considered one of the principal shipyards in the region. It has passed through several owners and since 2004 is owned by Miami-based Carlsun LLC. Its large installations have four floating docks ranging from 1,300 tonnes to 4,000 tonnes in capacity, plus onshore 700- tonne and 220-tonne docks with a dockage system and lateral transference allowing simultaneous work to be carried out to seven vessels on dock.
Astivik has also expanded from repairs into the construction of hopper and deck barges, certified by ABS and Lloyds Register, with contracts from coal and fuel transportation, commercial diving and salvage companies.
‘In addition we have built floating docks, tugboats and smaller vessels for multinationals companies, hydropower and mining companies,’ adds Astivik corporate commercial director Cristhian Mar Gonzalez. ‘We are the leader in barge construction in Colombia, and recently built a 3,600hp river pusher with high-tech machinery for a US company located in Colombia.’
The shipyard has also built seven barges of 3,000 tonnes for Glencore and two more for Impala, which operates on the Magdalena, Colombia’s principal river.
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For construction of such vessels Astivik is ‘very competitive’ because of its knowledge of local rivers and of how to adapt craft to the surroundings, he adds.
In addition, the shipyard has won work adapt a number of Panamanian bunker barges to double hulls, their owners having found more favourable costs and delivery times at Astivik than in the domestic market. ‘But as Colombia is also bringing in legislation for mandatory double hull-bunker barges, we hope to have more local customers in need of transforming their working boats for the Magdalena River,’ says Mar Gonzalez.
Besides the shipyard, Astivik Group also owns companies that specialise in different sectors of the maritime industry, such as fisheries, logistics, port services and transport.
Another important shipyard is Coctemar, related to the Colombian Navy, located at the Colombian Bolivar Navy Base and in the industrial zone of Mamonal. Besides shipbuilding and repair the company is described as a ‘science and technology corporation for the development of naval, maritime and riverine industries’ that not only builds patrol and sail boats for the Colombian Navy but also plays a role in research.
Coctemar vp Capt. Carlos Alberto Mojica points out that the company has been entirely autonomous since 2000, and although until now all its newbuild constructions have been for naval use, it has carried out ship repairs for the
private sector and does not rule out commercial newbuildings. ‘We did build four state-of-the-art patrol boats at end 2014 for the Brazilian Navy to use in river interventions,’ he adds.
River traffic in Colombia is due to be boosted by a new tender for improving navigability of the 1,500km Magdalena River, a $862m project that has been dogged by controversy since an initial contract was awarded to Odebrecht but later annulled. ‘Some 3.5m tonnes is moved on the river and the project was to increase capacity to 12m tonnes,’ explains Lt Cdr Eliberto Nino Pinilla, Coctemar sales manager. Once re-awarded, the Magdalena project is expected to ‘boost river barge construction and equipment in the next three or four years,’ he says.
The fact that river traffic is not so heavily regulated means that many owners prefer to come to ‘high- standard’ yard like Coctemar where any material damages can be immediately repaired, says Nino Pinilla. The yard’s lifting capacity currently extends to vessels of 120mtr in length and 22mtr in width, which ‘positions us very well’ for the river market, he says, although ‘we soon need to decide to increase this capacity and are thinking about investing for bigger ship repairs.’
State-of-the-art tugboat built by Coctemar Seatrade Maritime Review • Quarterly Issue 2 • June 2017 75
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