Astilleros Argentinos Río de La Plata S.A. (mostly known for its acronym ASTARSA, which can be roughly translated as ''Argentine Shipyards of Río de la Plata'') was an

Argentine Argentines, Argentinians or Argentineans are people from Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical, or cultural. For most Argentines, several (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their ...

shipyard A shipyard, also called a dockyard or boatyard, is a place where ships are shipbuilding, built and repaired. These can be yachts, military vessels, cruise liners or other cargo or passenger ships. Compared to shipyards, which are sometimes m ...

. Its core business was building and repairing ships and locomotives. It also manufactured pipes, industrial machinery, and tractors. It went out of business in 1994.

History

In the 1920s the ''Sociedad Colectiva Hansen y Puccini'', predecessor of Astarsa, was founded. The first ship over 1000 tons launched in Argentina was built by Astarsa for

Yacimientos Petrolíferos Fiscales YPF S.A. (, formerly ; English: "Fiscal Oilfields") is a vertically integrated, majority state-owned Argentine energy company, engaged in oil and gas exploration and production, and the transportation, refining, and marketing of gas and petr ...

(YPF).

The shipyard was located in the city of Tigre, north of

Greater Buenos Aires Greater Buenos Aires (, GBA), also known as the Buenos Aires Metropolitan Area (, AMBA), refers to the urban agglomeration comprising the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of B ...

, on the

Luján River The Luján River ( Spanish, Río Luján) runs from its source near Espora about west of Buenos Aires, Argentina, to its outflow into the Río de la Plata north of the city. The first ''Megatherium ''Megatherium'' ( ; from Greek () 'great' + ...

. It had a peak of 1,500 naval and metallurgic workers. Although Astarsa's main line of business was shipbuilding, the company also acted as sub-contractor for several railway manufacturers, producing and repairing

diesel locomotive A diesel locomotive is a type of railway locomotive in which the prime mover (locomotive), power source is a diesel engine. Several types of diesel locomotives have been developed, differing mainly in the means by which mechanical power is con ...

s for EMD,

Werkspoor Werkspoor N.V. was the shortened, and later the official name of the Nederlandsche Fabriek van Werktuigen en Spoorwegmaterieel. It was a Dutch machine factory, known for rolling stock, (ship) steam engines, and diesel engines. It was a successo ...

and

Alsthom Alstom SA () is a French multinational rolling stock manufacturer which operates worldwide in rail transport markets. It is active in the fields of passenger transportation, signaling, and locomotives, producing high-speed, suburban, regional a ...

, in addition to doing major repairs to diesel and

steam locomotive A steam locomotive is a locomotive that provides the force to move itself and other vehicles by means of the expansion of steam. It is fuelled by burning combustible material (usually coal, Fuel oil, oil or, rarely, Wood fuel, wood) to heat ...

s for state-owned railway company

Ferrocarriles Argentinos Ferrocarriles Argentinos (abbreviated as FA; ) was a government-owned corporation, state-owned company that managed the entire Rail transport in Argentina, Argentine railway system for nearly 45 years. It was formed in 1948 when all the private r ...

. Between 1976 and 1991 Astarsa manufactured 267 locomotives under

General Motors General Motors Company (GM) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturing company headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, United States. The company is most known for owning and manufacturing f ...

license for the Argentine market, also exporting models to

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

and

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in West Asia. Located in the centre of the Middle East, it covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula and has a land area of about , making it the List of Asian countries ...

In the early 1970s, Astarsa produced

industrial machinery The following Outline (list), outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to industrial machinery: Essence of industrial machinery * Heavy equipment * Household hardware, Hardware * Industrial process * Machine * Machine tool * Too ...

under licence from the

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, p ...

company

Caterpillar Caterpillars ( ) are the larval stage of members of the order Lepidoptera (the insect order comprising butterflies and moths). As with most common names, the application of the word is arbitrary, since the larvae of sawflies (suborder ...

. During the 1970s, Astarsa workers spoke out against frequent accidents in the factory which had caused several deaths, and ended up going on strike in 1973. On 24 March 1976, when the

military dictatorship A military dictatorship, or a military regime, is a type of dictatorship in which Power (social and political), power is held by one or more military officers. Military dictatorships are led by either a single military dictator, known as a Polit ...

headed by

Jorge Videla Jorge Rafael Videla ( ; ; 2 August 1925 – 17 May 2013) was an Argentine military officer and the ''de facto'' President of Argentina from 1976 to 1981, during the National Reorganization Process. His rule, which was during the time of Operati ...

overthrew the government of

Isabel Perón Isabel Martínez de Perón (, born María Estela Martínez Cartas; 4 February 1931) is an Argentine politician who served as the 41st president of Argentina from 1974 to 1976. She was one of the List of elected and appointed female heads of s ...

, the

Argentine Army The Argentine Army () is the Army, land force branch of the Armed Forces of the Argentine Republic and the senior military service of Argentina. Under the Argentine Constitution, the president of Argentina is the commander-in-chief of the Armed For ...

took the Astarsa factory and other shipyards in the area, kidnapping 60 workers, 16 of whom are still

missing Missing or The Missing may refer to: Film * ''Missing'' (1918 film), an American silent drama directed by James Young * ''Missing'' (1982 film), an American historical drama directed by Costa-Gavras about the 1973 coup in Chile *, a Belgian film ...

."Los 16 desaparecidos de Astarsa aún piden justicia"
Prensa Libre, 22 Mar 2011 The decreasing activity of the Argentine merchant navy since the 1980s and the privatisation process started in the 1990s were some of the causes that led Astarsa to close down. In 1994 the company ceased operations, abandoning locomotives (new and under repair) within its shop. By 1997, the company declared bankruptcy and the factory was in the process of being sold by 2000.

Bibliography

* "Complicidad patronal-militar en la última dictadura argentina: Los casos de Acindar, Astarsa, Dálmine Siderca, Ford, Ledesma y Mercedes Benz" by Verónica Basualdo, article published in ''Engranajes'' magazine n° 5, March 2006 * ''La industria naval en la Argentina. Buenos Aires: Ministerio de Industria'' Centro de Estudios para la Producción (2005) * ''La industria naval en la Argentina'' by Aurelio González Climent - Buenos Aires: Universidad de Buenos Aires, pp. 68–72 (1956) * "Pensar los setenta desde los trabajadores" by Federico Lorenz - ''Políticas de la memoria'', pag. 19-23 (2004) * "Los trabajadores navales de Tigre. La militancia sindical en un contexto de enfrentamiento militar". ''Lucha Armada en la Argentina n° 2, pag. 72-87'' (2005)

References

{{Rolling stock manufacturers of Argentina Defense companies of Argentina Shipyards of Argentina Defunct rolling stock manufacturers of Argentina Argentine companies established in 1927 Defunct manufacturing companies of Argentina

History

See also

Bibliography

References