By Brazil Stock Guide – The Rio Grande Shipyard will build five gas carriers designed to transport liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and derivatives after signing a US$414.6 million contract with Transpetro on Tuesday (20) in the city of Rio Grande, in southern Brazil. The deal strengthens the recovery of the region’s shipbuilding cluster and extends the order book of Ecovix into the second half of 2027.
The vessels are part of the Fleet Renewal and Expansion Program of the Petrobras System (TP 25) and add to a contract signed in 2025 for the construction of four Handy-class ships. With projects already secured, the shipyard is expected to employ about 2,900 workers at peak activity, with total headcount potentially reaching around 4,000 when other ongoing and prospective activities are included.
At the Rio Grande Shipyard, five pressurized gas carriers will be built—three with a capacity of 7,000 cubic meters and two of 14,000 cubic meters—intended for coastal transportation of LPG and related products. Ecovix’s proposal won one of the lots in an international tender promoted by Transpetro. Construction is expected to begin in January 2027, following the final stages of planning and industrial mobilization.
The contract signing ceremony was held at the shipyard and attended by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, alongside federal, state, and local authorities. For Ecovix, this represents its second contract under the TP 25 program and another milestone in its recovery process after exiting judicial restructuring in July 2025, following the reorganization of approximately R$6 billion in debt.
Since then, the shipyard has resumed repair and industrial services. Between 2021 and 2024, 25 vessels underwent maintenance operations at the facility. The shipyard is also currently dismantling the P-32 platform under a contract with Gerdau, within a sustainable decommissioning model promoted by Petrobras.
According to Ecovix, the Rio Grande Shipyard—home to the largest dry dock in Latin America—continues to monitor upcoming tenders from Petrobras and Transpetro, including bids for medium-range MR1 vessels, signaling that the current recovery could translate into a broader and more sustained revival of the regional shipbuilding industry.
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