The maneuver was highly complex given the strong ocean currents in the area.
Santiago, September 6, 2017. Two SAAM tugs, CHERCÁN and QUETRO, were key in moving the Jack Up Pioneer III platform to its new location. This platform serves as the operations base for Consorcio Puente Chacao (CPC) in constructing a bridge to connect the island of Chiloé to the continent.
“It was a high-precision maneuver. The two tugs moved the platform 0.7 nautical miles (1.3 kilometers) from Roca Remolino to Roca Norte, positioning it 10 meters from the service dock being built in that location. Two of the base pillars for the Chacao Bridge will be built on these two rock masses,” explained the Division Manager of SAAM’s Towage Division in Chile, Cristián Rojas.
“This job might seem simple. However, it took our operations team, our tug captains and a group of engineers from CPC to plan every detail. We had a very small window to work with in terms of date and time, waiting for optimal weather conditions, which can be very complex in this area mainly because of strong tidal currents that can reach up to 10 knots,” he clarified.
The suspension bridge will measure 2.6 km in length, one of the longest in Latin America, and will connect the Island of Chiloé and the continent.
SAAM’s Towage Division operates at more than 70 ports in 11 countries throughout the Americas. It boasts a fleet of 160 tugs, making it the fourth largest operator in the world and the market leader in the Americas.
