| Work Detail |
The owner of the tugboat claims that due to repeated non-payment by the owner of the dredge, the contract was terminated and the service is no longer provided. The dredging of the Rawson port has been stopped since September and there is no date for restarting the work.
The Puerto Rawson dredging work continues adding chapters in its muddy process that goes from its bidding to its inconclusive completion more than two years after its award. At this moment, the dredge is inactive due to a generator breakdown and cannot operate, while the tugboat that moves it broke the contractual relationship with the subcontractor and is in dry dock to later resume operations in its home port.
The dredging was awarded by the Government of Chubut to the firm Sudelco SA of Trelew, which subcontracted the company Servimagnus SA, which provided the Lucio dredge for the execution of the sediment removal and reflushing work; This subcontractor in turn required the services of the Viento tugboat belonging to the company Nautical SRL of Puerto Madryn since the dredge does not have its own propulsion.
On July 12, 2023, the Rawson Naval Prefecture issued Regulation 243, which authorized the work. “Authorize for a period of 120 days, valid from July 12, 2023 until November 8, 2023, to begin dredging tasks on the Lucio Dredger assisted by the tugboat Viento, in the interior area of ??the Chubut River (Puerto Rawson ), in the sector included from the access channel to the wooden dock, above the water mirror”, established the provision of the PNA regarding the deadlines.
The work was awarded in November 2021 and the contract was signed, between the Government of Chubut and Sudelco, in April 2022. The lack of the Environmental Impact Study delayed the start of the tasks until the dredger was launched in July 2023. into the water and begins to remove sediment.
Less than a week after the operation began, a judicial measure was issued ordering the cessation of dredging until studies are carried out on the spilled mud. At that stop, commercial friction begins between Servimagnus and the pilotage company that rented the tugboat to him.
In the month of September, the work is resumed with the assistance of the tugboat and Nautical calls on Servimagnus to pay the outstanding invoices for having had the tugboat available for the entire previous time under warning of suspending the contract concluded, giving notice of the situation to the Naval Prefecture of the eventual decommissioning of the vessel.
Contract terminated
After that period of time and due to the lack of compliance by Servimagnus SA, the tugboat owner decided to terminate the contract. Regardless of this commercial issue, the firm chose to enter a dry dock in a Rawson shipyard in the coming days to carry out the periodic maintenance carried out on the hull of the vessel and, since there was no longer a contract with the owner of the dredger, plans to resume operations in its base port: the Port of San Antonio Este in the province of Río Negro.
“The contract was terminated in September due to exclusive breaches by Servimagnus, the tugboat was always available and operational,” said lawyer Ricardo Gabilondo, legal representative of the Nautical company of Puerto Madryn, owner of the Viento tugboat.
Aided in a storm
However, having broken the contractual relationship, at the beginning of October a climatic event occurred, where the Rawson Prefecture, in use of its powers, ordered the tugboat to assist the dredger that due to the southeast was in a situation of danger, as it does not have its own propulsion. The vessel carried out maneuvers to reposition the naval device, managing to move it, sheltering both the dredge and the crew that was on board it and positioning it in another sector to which it was located.
“Nautical signed a contract with Servimagnus making the tugboat operationally available, and if there was a stoppage due to a judicial measure, the company is not involved in that situation. And given the successive breaches, it was decided to terminate that contract. The tugboat was always perfectly operational to carry out the maneuvers required of it and never had any problems. Now, taking advantage of the fact that it is located in the Port of Rawson, the vessel will enter the dock for periodic maintenance and then return to operate at the port of San Antonio Este as it usually does,” Gabilondo summarized when providing details of what happened.
Another season without draft
However, Provision 243/23 of the PNA Rawson authorized the operation of the dredge until November 8, a deadline that expired last week, so for it to operate again it will require that a plan be presented of work that includes a new vessel that meets the requirements imposed by the PNA for the movement of the dredge.
Two years have passed since the award of the work to Sudelco, and there is no date for the completion of the tasks.
The fishing fleet is already in time to start the shrimp season, which usually lasts until March, and the lack of draft in the access channel has not been resolved. Another backpack that the provincial government that takes office in three weeks will have to face.
Source: Puerto Magazine |
