Wilson Sons Launches Tugboat to Meet Demand from New Panamax Ships

[By Wison Sons]

With over 188 years of experience, Wilson Sons held a launch ceremony for the tugboat WS Halcyon this Thursday, January 29th, in Rio de Janeiro. It is the first of a new series of three high-powered tugs. 

Built at the company’s shipyard in Guarujá (São Paulo), WS Halcyon is a class 2312 tug (23 metres long and 12 metres wide) with azimuth propulsion and 70 tons of bollard pull, which is capable of supporting the world’s biggest ships on docking and undocking manoeuvres in Brazil's main ports. Versatile, it is also equipped with a firefighting system with a capacity of 2,400,000 litres/hour of water (FiFi 1).

The new tugs are part of the company’s 80-tug fleet renewal strategy and support its commitment to modernizing its operations. Two more 2312 class tugboats are being built at the Wilson Sons shipyard, with delivery scheduled for mid-2026.

For Márcio Castro, executive director of the Towage unit, this investment strengthens the company's role in the Brazilian logistics chain. "Our focus is on ensuring safe, efficient, and reliable operations, directly supporting the flow of foreign trade and the development of Brazil’s port infrastructure," he says.

With this new tugboat series, Wilson Sons will reach the milestone of 155 vessels built at its shipyard, which has more than 80 years of history.