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 shipyard. 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, on the

Luján River The Luján River (Spanish, Río Luján) runs from its source near Espora about east of Buenos Aires, Argentina, to its outflow into the Río de la Plata north of the city. The first Megatherium fossil was found here in 1789. See also * List of ...

. 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 locomotives 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 successor ...

and

Alsthom Alstom SA is a French multinational rolling stock manufacturer operating worldwide in rail transport markets, active in the fields of passenger transportation, signalling, and locomotives, with products including the AGV, TGV, Eurostar, Avelia ...

, in addition to doing major repairs to diesel and steam locomotives for state-owned railway company

Ferrocarriles Argentinos Ferrocarriles Argentinos (abbreviated as FA; ) was a state-owned company that managed the entire Argentine railway system for nearly 45 years. It was formed in 1948 when all the private railway companies were nationalised during Juan Perón's fir ...

. Between 1976 and 1991 Astarsa manufactured 267 locomotives under General Motors 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. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

and

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the A ...

In the early 1970s, Astarsa produced

industrial machinery The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to industrial machinery: Essence of industrial machinery * Heavy equipment * Hardware * Industrial process * Machine * Machine tool * Tool Industrial machines * Agricul ...

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, pe ...

company Caterpillar. 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 headed by

Jorge Videla Jorge Rafael Videla (; ; 2 August 1925 – 17 May 2013) was an Argentine military officer and dictator, Commander in Chief of the Army, member of the Military Junta, and ''de facto'' President of Argentina from 29 March 1976 to 29 March 1981. ...

overthrew the government of Isabel Perón, the

Argentine Army The Argentine Army ( es, Ejército Argentino, EA) is the 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- ...

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