26 April, 2022 by Juan Carlos Díaz Lorenzo

The dismantling of the historic barge “Acentejo” is completed

The disinterest and neglect towards the scarce industrial heritage of the port of Santa Cruz de Tenerife is exemplified by the deliberate dismantling of the barge “Acentejo”, which ends its days after 40 years of existence in the same port where it was born. All efforts made since August 2021 by a group of former crew members led by Captain José Luis Rosales de Vera have been in vain.

Contacts with the Port Authority, Cabildo of Tenerife, municipalities of the Acentejo region – from which it takes its name – and other entities have not been sufficient to achieve the preservation of this vessel as a museum piece in the port of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, to whose history it has belonged since its origins. Unfortunately, this is the case. Nothing at all, and from those who one would expect more, even less. We are sure that if Pedro Anatael Meneses Roqué had been at the helm of the Port Authority, this would not have happened.

Among other possible museum uses, it was proposed that it could explain the evolution of the “bunkering” service in the Tenerife port, which dates back to 1930, when Shell positioned a tanker pontoon at the southern dock to compete with the newly inaugurated CEPSA refinery.

It was also proposed, in an initial phase, to conserve the exterior of the vessel on land, in a location around the port of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, as has been done with the water tank located on dry land in the Dársena de Los Llanos – which currently exists – and later its adaptation for the proposed purposes. The weight in the thread allows it to be hoisted with the help of the Bonny crane, an important consideration. None of this has been taken into account.

The barge “Acentejo” (IMO 8138221) was the last and largest steel-hulled vessel built at Nuevos Varaderos (NUVASA), a shipyard that was based in Santa Cruz de Tenerife and entered service in 1982, being the 28th construction of the mentioned factory.

In its early years, it was dedicated to the potable water service on behalf of the Port Works Board and after its transformation, starting in April 1988, it was converted for fuel supply first on behalf of Navalinca and later by Ciresa Bunker (Boluda Group) in the port of Santa Cruz de Tenerife.

With a gross tonnage of 293 tons and a deadweight of 620 tons, it measured 34.50 m in overall length and 8.23 m in beam and was powered by an outboard Schotel engine, the same type that the barge being dismantled in the Dársena de Los Llanos had.