The Santa Cruz de Tenerife port community reached a significant milestone on Sunday that eluded other major ports such as Durban in South Africa. This achievement involves the berthing of the immense GTA FPSO, a production, storage, and offloading vessel with a displacement of almost 150 thousand gross registered tons, stretching 270 meters in length. The vessel is expected to undergo commissioning at the Tenerife port for approximately three to four months before departing for the West African coast.
Undoubtedly, this marks a significant achievement for the capital’s port, a collaborative effort involving pilots, mooring personnel, tugboats, the port’s Service Coordination Center, technicians from the Port Authority of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, consignees of the ship, and professionals from Tenerife Shipyards. The latter will oversee the commissioning over the next three to four months.
Puertos de Tenerife President, Pedro Suárez, stated that “this accomplishment demonstrates the high level of professionalism in our port’s operations and represents the first of the major projects we aim to undertake on the Island, whether at the Santa Cruz or Granadilla facilities, to promote international naval repairs.” Suárez further emphasized that “it is another example of how port activity can stimulate the economy, not only in the metropolitan area but also across the entire Island, by attracting business and industry to our community.”
The berthing maneuver included the involvement of five Boluda Towage tugs within the Tenerife port system, specifically the VB Tenerife, VB Canarias, VB Baleares, and the VB Risban, with the latter arriving from the port of La Palma. Additionally, the VB Mencey arrived from the port of Arrecife in Lanzarote to support the operation. The maneuver prominently featured three pilots, two aboard the GTA FPSO and one on the deep-sea tugboat Posh Osprey, which had accompanied the ship to Tenerife on January 10. The maneuver also involved the participation of 35 AmaSur moorers, possibly the largest number deployed in the port, who utilized a bulldozer due to the ropes’ weight during the mooring operation. The operation, spanning fourteen hours, commenced at 4:00 a.m. and culminated at 6:00 p.m. without impacting the day’s planned port operations. Notably, adverse weather conditions, particularly strong winds, had forced the cancellation of an initial attempt to carry out this maneuver on the preceding Wednesday.
ECONOMIC RAMIFICATIONS
The GTA FPSO arrived with 144 crew members and 500 professional technicians of 23 nationalities, who will be accommodated in a leading hotel chain in Santa Cruz de Tenerife until the ship’s commissioning is completed. These figures are expected to have widespread implications for the city and the Island. Apart from the tuning work on the ship, nearly a hundred technicians associated with Tenerife Shipyards have also secured vital contracts for the Island.
The ship will remain at the docking line of its concession in the Eastern Dock, where the base of operations has been established. In order to ensure safety requirements for both the warehouse and the professionals on-site, certified bollards with a capacity for over 150 tons of draft were manufactured and installed along a 460-meter length, with individual tests conducted.
FLOATING DEFENSES
New floating defenses, measuring 12 meters in length, were manufactured and installed in the Canary Islands for the first time to facilitate the ship’s berthing, serving as stabilizing devices to counteract potential movements affecting the vessel.
Consigned in Tenerife by Wilhelmsen Port Services, the GTA FPSO arrived in Santa Cruz from the port of Dakar, Senegal, and remained in the anchorage area for several days accompanied by three high-power tugboats—Posh Falcon, Posh Teal, and Posh Osprey. The FTA FPSO arrived alongside Posh Eagle and the Norwegian supply ship Bergen. These vessels are anticipated to stay in the Tenerife port until the completion of their commissioning.
