MEXICO CITY – State-owned oil giant Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex) said it started the construction of the first of nearly two dozen ships for its support fleet, a project that will cost 3.4 billion pesos ($264 million).The keel of a 31-meter (101-foot) tugboat that will have a speed of 12 knots was laid on Monday, a move that jump-starts “the Mexican shipbuilding industry after a quarter of a century,” Pemex said.
The tugboat is the first of 22 vessels to be built by the navy under a July 2013 agreement to overhaul Pemex’s support fleet, which transports crude oil and its derivatives.
The keel was laid during a ceremony at the Talleres Navales del Golfo (TNG) pier in the port of Veracruz.
The upgrading of Pemex’s support fleet will create “more than 8,000 jobs at the national level,” said Pemex Comercio Internacional (PMI) chief, Jose Manuel Carrera.
The vessels, including tugboats, work boats and other specialized ships, will be built at shipyards in Veracruz, Tamaulipas, Oaxaca and Baja California states.
The ships will have “a high national content, including, among other components, all the steel plates, which account for 40 percent of the total cost,” Pemex said in the statement.
The shipbuilding program shows that Mexico has the capacity to construct different types of vessels with varying technologies, Carrera said, adding that the country can compete in open markets.
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