The brazilian product ship, José Alencar left for her maiden voyage on this Tuesday (14). During the ceremony marking the start of operations, the president of Transpetro, Sergio Machado, gave the green light to start construction of eight product tankers in Mauá Shipyard (Niterói, Rio de Janeiro city). The new batch will require investments of R$ 1.4 billion within the R$ 11.2 billion earmarked for the construction of 49 ships and 20 waterway convoys Program Fleet Modernization and Expansion (Promef).

José Alencar is the sixth vessel of Promef to come into operation within two years and ends the first batch of orders by Transpetro to Brazilian shipyards within the program. Seven ships and another 12 are under construction have already been delivered. In 2014, Promef should hit a new record: the seven ships will be put into operation.

Besides José Alencar, the first batch of Promef includes three other ships of products already in operation: Celso Furtado (November 2011), Sérgio Buarque de Holanda (July/ 2012) and Rômulo Almeida (January/ 2013). Besides these, the EAS delivered to Transpetro the Suezmax João Cândido (May/ 2012) and Zumbi dos Palmares (May 2013), and the tanker Dragão do Mar (December/ 2013), this with completion forecast for the first quarter of this year.

First Trip

On his first trip, José Alencar left the Mauá shipyard in Niterói, where it was built, to be loaded with naphtha Terminal da Ilha D’Água (Rio de Janeiro). From there, follow the path of São Sebastião Terminal in São Paulo, where it will be unloaded.

"The Brazilian shipbuilding industry is experiencing a new moment. No longer a dream and today is consolidated. Delivery of the first batch of orders Promef is proof of that. Now, the big focus is the management, quality so that productivity is highest and best in the pursuit of international competitiveness. It's what we're working ", says the president of Transpetro, Sergio Machado.

José Alencar - who has 12 cargo tanks, speed of 14.6 knots and autonomy of 12 thousand nautical miles - will be responsible for the transportation of light oil products. With 183 meters in length (the equivalent of nearly 2 official football fields), 32.2 meters wide, 43.8 meters high (taller than the statue of Cristo Redentor), the ship can carry 56 million liters of fuel (enough to fill about 13 Olympic swimming pools amount).

Were used in its construction, 250 tons of accessories hull ; 25,000 liters of paint and solvents; 4,500 pieces of pipe weighing 380 tonnes, 95 thousand meters of electrical cables and 274 tons of electrodes and consumables in their construction, 9,147 tons of structural steel were used.