Sanmar Shipyards has delivered a powerful and highly manoeuvrable RAstar 2900SX tugboat to South American towing giant SAAM Towage. Renamed MATAQUITO ll by its new owners, the new-build ASD Z-drive tug will work in Chile.

MATAQUITO II is the fifth tug that Sanmar has delivered to SAAM and follows HALCON lll, delivered to Chile in 2022, ALBATROS delivered to Peru and SAAM PALENQUE delivered to Panama in 2021 and SAAM VALPARAISO delivered to Panama in 2020.

Based on the exclusive-to-Sanmar RAstar 2900SX design from Canadian naval architects Robert Allan Ltd, MATAQUITO ll was known as Bigacay XII while under construction at Sanmar’s purpose-built state-of-the-art shipyards in Turkey.

With a 29.40m LOA, moulded breadth of 13.30m, moulded depth of 5.50m and maximum operating draft of 6.30m, MATAQUITO ll is powered by two Caterpillar 3516C marine diesel engines complying with IMO Tier II emission standards, each producing 2.525kW at 1.800 rev/min.

Twin Kongsberg US255FP Azimuth Thrusters enable impressive bollard pulls of 80 tonnes and a free running speed ahead of 13 knots. Tank capacities include 160m3 of fuel oil and 18.6m3 of fresh water.

With a crew of up to eight persons, the tug benefits from the designer’s radical sponsoned hull form, which has been proven to provide significantly enhanced escort towing and seakeeping performance. As well as towage, the tug has also been designed for fire-fighting, pollution response support and salvage operations within a port.

Ruchan Civgin, Commercial Director of Sanmar Shipyards, said: “We are delighted that SAAM Towage has once again turned to us to provide them with the powerful, agile and highly manoeuvrable tugboat they need. At Sanmar we pride ourselves on being able to tailor the design, construction and outfitting of our tugs to meet an operator’s individual needs. We do this through close co-operation at every stage of development, from specification, through design and building and on to sea trials. We also offer our clients an unrivalled after sales service.”

MATAQUITO II has been classed by ABS, XA1, X AMS, Towing Vessel, Escort Vessel X ABCU, FFV 1, UWILD, QR, Unrestricted Navigation.