Rumos Práticos 61 (English)

Brazilian Maritime Pilots' Association Magazine 61th edition - February/May 2022

Embarcation

with Espírito Santo

Pilotage

editorial Rescuing a man overboard is not an easy task, especially if he is unconscious when he falls in the dark and in a stormy sea. Having a trained crew with the proper resources to catch the drowning man is fundamental in increasing the chances of being rescued alive. The situation is complicated. That’s why we have listened to more than a dozen people on how to cope in a case of a pilot overboard. We have included a detailed report of the symbolic event that led to the death of a colleague in Portugal in 2018, as well as a sample of how Brazilian pilotage addresses the issue. Between 2007 and 2020, 18 pilots suffered accidents during the transfer operation to the ship, according to the Maritime Court.

In the series about Brazilian pilotage zones, we visited Espírito Santo pilotage zone (ZP-14) that, with the privatization of Companhia Docas, now has all terminals under private administration, which only increases the demand for efficiency. We took the opportunity when visiting Vitória to interview Julio Castiglioni, the CEO who ran the company until the first auction of its kind in the country.

This paradigm shift is also seen in the transformation of the maritime industry to achieve the International Maritime Organization (IMO)’s ambitious target to reduce carbon emissions, initially of 40% by 2030. Shipowners rush to adapt their fleet with new technologies and to achieve the UN agency’s objectives. The same is found in the ports, which look for projects to accompany the market evolution.

One of the alternatives considered for fossil fuel substitutes is green hydrogen, the production of which could benefit from the energy generated on offshore wind farms. In Brazil, however, those projects are still at a very early stage awaiting legislation, despite the huge potential along the Brazilian coastline. We also included an overview of this situation. Check out the following pages!

Good reading!

Otavio Fragoso is the editor

Brazilian Maritime Pilots’ Association Av. Rio Branco, 89/1502 – Centro – Rio de Janeiro – RJ – CEP 20040-004 Tel.: 55 (­21) 2516-4479 conapra@conapra.org.br praticagemdobrasil.org.br director president of Brazilian Maritime Pilots' Association and vice-president of IMPA Ricardo Augusto Leite Falcão director vice-president Bruno Fonseca de Oliveira directors Marcello Rodrigues Camarinha Marcio Pessoa Fausto de Souza Marcos Francisco Ferreira Martinelli

Rumos Práticos planning Otavio Fragoso/Flávia Pires/Katia Piranda editor Otavio Fragoso writer Rodrigo March (journalist in charge) MTb/RJ 23.386 translation Elvyn Marshall revision Julia Grillo layout and design Katia Piranda pre-print DVZ Impressões Gráficas

The information and opinions expressed in this publication are the sole responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily express the Brazilian Maritime Pilots' Association viewpoint.

photo: Gustavo Stephan

cover photo: Gustavo Stephan

photo: Rogério Sarmenghi

16

Private terminals everywhere

photo: Publicity

6

6

16

photo: reprodução de internet

index

22

"The Port of Vitória will become a large jobsite"

22

The difficult task of rescuing man overboard

28

The shipping industry’s adaptations to reduce carbon emissions

32

Distant horizons for offshore wind farms

6

pilotage in Brazil

Port of Barra do Riacho

Private terminals everywhere

Jurong Aracruz Shipyard

ESPÍRITO SANTO After Codesa privatization, the relationship in the Espírito Santo Pilotage Zone becomes entirely intercorporate, which demands more from pilot services

Ponta Ubu Terminal

pilotage in Brazil

Ports of Praia Mole and Tubarão Port of Vitória

7

photo: Gustavo Stephan

8 pilotage in Brazil

pilotage in Brazil

9

With the maneuvering basin bound on both sides by the city, it is difficult for a pedestrian not to stop on the avenue to watch a ship turning in the Port of Vitória. In the State of Espírito Santo, this port-city relationship is a little more evident, especially in the capital. From Camburi Beach you can also view the work being done in the ports of Tubarão and Praia Mole. In the north of the state however, Aracruz residents have undergone a socioeconomic transformation after Portocel began exporting cellulose in the 1970s.

In the seventh article of the series on Brazilian pilotage zones, Rumos Práticos visited ZP-14 in April, where 28 pilots are still working at the Jurong Aracruz Shipyard and Ponta Ubu Sea Terminal in Anchieta farther South. In the future they will maneuver in the Aracruz Imetame Port (under construction).

Like the Rio de Janeiro pilotage zone (ZP-15), this diversity of ports along the coast poses challenges to training, according to Daniel Menezes, pilotage technical adviser and former harbor master of São Paulo ports: “Pilots here have to train a lot, given the various types of ship and environmental features, from Vitória, where there is a narrow entrance, outside Pianc regulations (World Association for Waterborne Transport Infrastructure), to Tubarão, where they maneuver the 360m long Valemax mega ships.”

One difference in relation to ZP-15 is that all the terminals are privately operated, considering that the Companhia Docas do Espírito Santo (Codesa) was auctioned in March. In addition to the Port of Vitória, the future concessionaire will be able to operate a greenfield area of 500,000 square meters in Barra do Riacho.

“With the privatization of Codesa, all terminals are private and belong to large corporations involved in international trade. This sets Espírito Santo apart, because the solutions have quite different levels of requirement and urgency from those under public management. The companies work under a far more dynamic system and are much more daring when they want outlets for their products, while the State is bound by red tape”, comments Gilson Victorino, executive secretary for pilotage.

The Port of Vitória, to be taken over by the winning bidder by September, is an example of the problems faced by State administration. After completing a long-awaited depth dredging in 2017, tests only began in 2020 for draft progression to 12.50m, after updating the shipping markers. However, since it had never had a maintenance program, it silted up again and saw the draft restricted to 10.67 meters, only recovering it in 2022 after another dredging campaign. In comparison, the private Portocel and Ponta Ubu Terminal installed dynamic draft systems.

SHIPS TURNING CLOSE TO THE AVENUE ATTRACT PEDESTRIANS IN VITÓRIA

10

PILOT MARCELO SILVA CONDUCTING EMBARKATION IN THE VITÓRIA CHANNEL

pilotage in Brazil

The private terminals, in turn, were planned and had manned simulations not only when implementing projects but also on new operations. That’s how it was in Port of Tubarão, where Vale operates three iron ore terminals, a variety of goods and liquid granites. By adopting mitigating measures, the pilotage reached a middle-ground to accommodate ship maneuverability and the draft interests of the mining corporation, without impacting Camburi Beach, since there was an environmental restriction on disturbing the channel.

Rumos Práticos watched an outgoing maneuver and also an entrance to the ore terminal. Pilot Carlos Alberto, president of the Espírito Santo Pilots’ Union, had scarcely departed on a loaded ship when another entered for loading, with pilot Renato Baião. Loading began even before finalizing the mooring, in complete safety, another measure in favor of the port efficiency. Formerly, the same pilot would undertake the departure and entrance of the vessels.

photos: Gustavo Stephan

“We do a lot of training, and everything goes smoothly when going hand in hand with technique. This is our major challenge, going along with the best possible practice. We have a good relationship with all the maritime and port authorities. And this is very important when there are new demands on ports and access channels”, stresses Baião.

PILOT RENATO BAIÃO DISEMBARKS AFTER A MANEUVER IN TUBARÃO

foto: Gladison Oliveira

In Vitória, Rumos Práticos accompanied a maneuver of a containerized RoRo, 213.88m in length and 32.25m in breadth. The draft was 8.70m forward, 9.60m aft and 44.10m overhead. Pilot Marcelo Silva conducted the vessel that morning through the channel.

Before passing under the bridge between the municipality and Vila Velha, there was a setback. A stand-up paddle boarder decided to cross in front of the ship’s bow, which was sailing at a speed of eight knots. The whistle had to be blown and the master of one of the tugs was asked to warn the boarder. In front, the narrowest stretch between the islands also needed careful attention. The turning was only made in the afternoon, with the higher tide.

The port operates 24 hours, but there is a draft restriction at night, because the lighting from a club dazzles the navigator, especially when leaving. Its cargo mix is varied.

pilotage in Brazil

11

In the Port of Tubarão, the absence of a breakwater poses a problem in maneuvers from the South and Southwest winds. In 2021, its facilities handled 64.1 million tons (+14.2%), second among the private terminals, being only behind the Terminal of Ponta da Madeira (Maranhão-MA). The Port of Praia Mole is situated at Ponta de Tubarão and handles steel products and coal.

In the North of the State, the contribution from pilotage is noticeable.

In the Port of Barra do Riacho, pilotage collaborated to change strategic positioning of Portocel, which not only exports cellulose from the shareholders, but also now loads and imports other freight, such as steel products, pig iron, granite and salt. After many simulations, the tug’s technical quality was acknowledged to secure the heavy ships at the entrance, which previously would arrive empty. The problem there is that there is not much space to brake vessels that have little machine power abaft.

PILOT CARLOS ALBERTO DISEMBARKING IN THE PORT OF TUBARÃO

“On arrival, you come at a speed and have to be able to stop and turn for the ship to go into reverse. If it doesn’t have the speed, it loses governability and starts to list to the side. So, when you place the prow between the piers, you have to begin to stop the ship. But these ships tend to move forwards. Engines in the rear are not enough to secure them. The turn itself helps to restrain them with the water resistance”, explains pilot Aldo Amorim, who considers the access more complicated.

Marcelo Silva is one of his colleagues who thinks otherwise: “When leaving, the heavy ship feels the tide and swell a lot. It is hard to control it, because, in this case, you leave at a very low speed until passing the breakwater at a speed of one and a half knots or less. It’s worse at night. You tend to veer the vessel too early, since you are worried about pulling out of the breakwater and into the channel.”

During the visit of Rumos Práticos, Marcelo Silva helped exit a ship 12.67m draft with the rising tide. Aldo Amorim was on board as an

IN THE BACKGROUND, PILOT PIOVESAN IN BLACK ON HIS WAY TO EMBARKATION

pilotage in Brazil

photo: Rodrigo March

12

PILOT ALDO AMORIM DISEMBARKS IN PORTOCEL

pilotage in Brazil

13

observer. It was one of the assisted operations in running the dynamic draft system, which determines the safe draft in real time, considering information beyond the astronomical tide, such as current environmental conditions and the characteristics of the vessel and access channel.

The tool also provides better use of the tide windows, extending the availability of the three berths for operations.

The feasibility analyses for implementing the project demonstrated that around 3% of the maneuvers in unfavorable conditions would be avoided. Moreover, it would be possible to obtain, in certain conditions, a decrease of 3.7 hours or less in waiting time, or an increase of 66 centimeters in draft.

In 2021, Portocel handled 6.7 million tons (a rise of 2.6%), with the berthing of 235 ships. General cargo handling alone increased 22.3%.

“Pilotage is a partner in every handling. Our relationship is very close, including in project development. Its technical team’s competence has been subsidizing us in these studies, contributing to maximize the handling capacity of the port”, highlights Valeria Becalli, in charge of Strategy, Management and New Business of Portocel.

Also in the North, Jurong Aracruz Shipyard had the profile of the seawall modified after pilotage tests, which also identified the best geographic location to implement the seawall of Imetame Porto Aracruz, so that it does not hinder the intentions of the future port nor the operation of the neighboring Jurong. In the South, the pilots’ expertise also helps install the dynamic draft system in Ponta Ubu Terminal, operated by Samarco Mineração. Unlike Tubarão, there the major impact on maneuvers is the Northeast wind, also being a more open terminal.

In 2021, Espírito Santo Pilotage completed 4,400 jobs. The 28 pilots are divided into three companies. The service relies on the support of eight operators and around 50 masters and mariners. There are eight pilot boats for their boarding and disembarking. Three attend Vitória, Tubarão and Praia Mole, one for Barra do Riacho and another for Ubu. Two are standby motorboats, and the last is kept in maintenance. The single watchtower operates on top of a building in the capital, with a view to the channel of the Port of Vitória and connected to all terminals in the State.

Alexsander Moreira dos Anjos, harbor master of Espírito Santo ports, only a few months into the job, confirmed the good pilotage logistics to meet the entire demand for terminals scattered along the coast: “The Pilotage Zone is very well organized, has a very strong committee that cooperates with the Brazilian Navy on issues where we have to make decisions regarding the safety of navigation. We are constantly resorting to the pilotage, which is now our technical partner.”

photo: Rodrigo March

NEXT, CHECK OUT THE INTERVIEW WITH THE FORMER PRESIDENT OF CODESA

ENTRANCE TO THE PORT OF VITÓRIA

14

pilotage in Brazil

LEAVING AND ARRIVING AT TUBARÃO ORE TERMINAL

15

photo: Renato Baião

pilotage in Brazil

16

interview

THE PORT OF VITÓRIA WILL BECOME A LARGE JOBSITE Julio Castiglioni, executive who prepared the Companhia Docas do Espírito Santo for privatization, describes the whole process before the auction

After 116 years as a public company, Companhia Docas do Espírito Santo (Codesa) was the first port operator to be privatized. On March 30 auction day, the Brazilian asset management company Quadra Capital made the winning bid through its investment fund Shelf 119, with an immediate value of BRL 503 million [USD 22.16 million]: BRL 327 million cash for the purchase of the government bods, approximately BRL 71 million of incurred liabilities (mostly labor) and a premium of BRL 106 million. Moreover, the concessionary company will need to pay 7.5% of the company’s annual gross income and a further 25 installments of BRL 24.7 million from the sixth to thirteenth year of concession, which could be reversed in port upgrades. The

17

fotos: Gustavo Stephan

photo: Publicity

interview

investment commitment is BRL 855 million, the main obligation being maintenance dredging to keep the 12.5-meter draft. However, there is further expectation because the ports of Vitória and Barra do Riacho (where Codesa has a greenfield area) own a million square meters available for occupation of future port developers, the new name of the lessees, which now have a private agreement, speeding up investments. "The Port of Vitória will become a large jobsite", forecasts Julio Castiglioni, former Codesa CEO, State attorney who for three years prepared the assets for the auction, avoiding the obstacles of public administration, such as dredging, for example.

interview

photo: Publicity

18

In this interview with Rumos Práticos, shortly before stepping down, he describes this process and says that the relationship with Espírito Santo Pilotage will not change, unless from the perspective of a 70% rise in cargo handling. According to Castiglioni, the concessionaire will find a company with qualified costing that seeks businesses, and in enough time to be organized and prevent sedimentation of the shipping channel from happening again.

RUMOS PRÁTICOS: What about maintenance dredging and depth dredging? Was it included in the concession package?

Today, the limitation for the Port of Vitória channel is 12.5 meters, 11.20 meters plus tide. What is the concessionaire’s obligation?

It has to keep at least this operating draft for the 35 years of concession. Every so often, the supervisor regulation agency, Antaq (National Waterway Transport Agency) will take this measurement, and if anything is out of sync with those 12.5 meters, the concessionaire is penalized and loses income. In other words, at the next tariff review, Antaq sees that it failed to perform correctly, failed to deliver the quality that it should, and its tariff is discounted, it decreases. It is not only penalized, it could be fined, but also loses revenue because the tariff decreases. This is why we’re in no doubt whatsoever that there will be no cases like those incidents that happened in the Port of

Vitória or other public ports over the years, that is, going for years without maintenance dredging.

This maintenance dredging is planned; it is expected to be done every two years, but not on a mandatory basis; it could be every six months, every five years, provided that the service level is kept at 12.5 meters. Depth dredging is not planned. The concessionaire can do it with its own capital, using its own investment, even without government authorization. If it wants government authorization, that is, “look, I’m doing a depth job and it wasn’t included in the initial cost, so I‘d like prior authorization to obtain contractual rebalancing”, the concessionaire could try, but has to have a proposal supported by the port community and submit it to the government beforehand, for it to agree or not.

RP: And at the moment, when does this contracted service end?

Maintenance dredging was undertaken recently; we don’t have an ongoing maintenance program, and Codesa never did.

RP: Is there enough time for the concessionaire to take over?

It’s enough because we’ve just done a campaign that began on December 25, 2021 and ended the first week of March. We had a

interview

draft limitation. This draft was 10.67 meters rather than 12.5 meters. With the recent dredging, we now have the bathymetry, we recovered the 12.5 meters and advanced. Today we‘re able to take this draft to 13 meters. We submitted this request to the Brazilian Navy not only to immediately restore the 12.5 meters, but also to get the go ahead and reach 13 meters. We’re very hopeful.

The actual maintenance dredging removed some bottom sediments that remained when the 2017 depth dredging was done. Now, when we do maintenance dredging, we will not only reach 12.5 meters but also look out for these higher sediments and remove them, which will give us the 13 meters. We can’t assume that we have precisely 13 meters or 12.5 meters because the Navy is doing analyses internally, but we have no reason not to believe that this will occur.

RP: Has the channel’s administration also been privatized?

Yes, it has. The concessionaire is now the Port Operator, a private landlord system. All the condo services of this port shopping mall are the responsibility of the new concessionaire. This means that it has to provide every access route: road, rail and waterway. And this responsibility also includes waterway access: maintenance dredging, navigation markers, rescue, environmental disaster response program; these are all the concessionaire’s duties. Moreover, the concessionaire has to manage the channel access, as Codesa does. The port will not be programmed at the concessionaire’s whim, the same as with Codesa. There are port regulations, with previously established rules that define the access. This document will continue to exist, and the concessionaire will have to comply. Shipping traffic management through Vessel Traffic Services (VTS), (in qualification for Vessel Traffic Information Management System-VTIMS), is also transferred to the concessionaire, but it doesn’t mean that it will have policing power, like Codesa doesn’t have. Codesa’s private role will be on a cooperation system with the entire port community: Federal Police, Customs, Anvisa (Brazilian health regulatory agency), Brazilian Navy and, of course, Espírito Santo Pilotage. Nothing changes in this aspect; it will have no decision-making power and will follow the same regulations that exist today.

RP: Then this process changes nothing in relation to pilotage with the port.

It doesn’t change, unless from a positive outlook. We will probably have an increase in cargo handling in the ports of Capuaba and Vitória. We expect it will leave the current 8.2 million tons and reach 14 million tons a year. Of course, this requires investments…

RP: Does this include Barra do Riacho?

No. When the model was made, the ports of Vitória and Capuaba involved almost seven million tons. The 2020 studies showed that the potential of the Port of Vitória, with some investment, now all planned, would reach 14 million tons. From 2020 to date, we

19

already have, with no investment at all, no longer seven million tons, but 8.2 million, which is an all-time record for the port. After Vale left the Port of Vitória, in the 1960s, and created the Tubarão Complex, it has never had such a large handling. With investments, the concession model and unleashing the business development, these 8.2 million tons will not only stay; the trend is to reach the 14 million-mark. The positive outlook is the potential we have of more maneuver demands in the Port of Vitória. This means further generation of revenue, income, tax, more opportunities for everyone and, of course, for pilotage.

RP: What restructuring was made in terms of administration and operations to prepare the company for the auction?

The management shock began in 2019. This board arrived at the company with a very clear order of leading it to privatization.

The major challenge is that it can’t be done without first putting the house in order. There is a common view, in my opinion quite mistaken, that when a state-owned company or public asset is to be sold, you first devalue it, scrap it and then sell it.

This doesn’t make sense, especially because when you want to sell a car you do the complete opposite, you valorize it to sell it in the best conditions. It wouldn’t have been possible to sell Companhia Docas do Espírito Santo with that scenario of uncertainties that I found in 2019, even with management practices that weren’t good. So, first, we qualified the costing. It was not only to cut costs, there was a cut, but we spent more intelligently and effectively. For example, we reduced the company’s workforce by 25%, around 32% of outsourcing costs, cleaning contracts, reception, telephone and landscaping. And even though we diminished the expenditure disbursement, the quality of the service rendered to Codesa greatly improved.

And we did this by renegotiating contracts, re-auctioning contracts and being much more incisive when negotiating them.

Concerning revenue, Codesa positioned itself commercially as it never had before. The company lived for years under a smoke screen, a mistaken idea that it did not need to compete. Why was it in that situation? For many years there was no competition between public and private ports, there was no competitive pressure. With the change in Law 12,815 in 2013, Codesa was unaware that it should adopt a competitive position. Captive cargo in the port no longer existed; captive cargo no longer exists in any except verticalized ports. For instance, Vitória handles a lot of granite, and everyone used to say that “it’s the captive cargo of the Port of Vitória”, but it’s not true. The Port of Tubarão and Portocel also handle granite and any other port that sees a possibility will compete. In addition to the lack of competition, Codesa has always surfed the wave of a tax or fiscal benefit; I’m referring to Fundap, a fund for development of port activities. For years Fundap attracted companies to cargo handling in Espírito Santo, not because the port was better or more efficient, but because there was this incentive. And when this incentive ceased to exist as it did, in

20

interview

2013, Codesa found itself in a competitive environment and, later, with Fundap as a crutch. And so, the results were deteriorating each year.

RP: When you said to take a commercial position, how would that work?

What I’m about to say may seem very trivial, but it was something that had to be done. Codesa did not have a commercial team.

Imagine a company that provides services of this magnitude not having a commercial team… Today we have a commercial team set up with the company’s own employees, but we also hire many folk from the market; that is, since 2019 there has been no further political capture, commissioned positions, political interference or exchange of favors, all this was banned in our management.

All commissioned positions in Codesa are occupied by in-house talent or from the job market. With this commercial repositioning, instead of sitting back waiting for demand, we went out, prospecting business. And as a result, we’re leaving behind less than seven million tons/year and have already broken the eight million barrier, an all-time record.

RP: What public management constraints do you expect to be undone with this concession?

First, the bidding requirement, either to spend Codesa money or to receive. The bidding requirement makes a state-owned company so completely lethargic, lacking dynamism. And without dynamism, it is unable to compete with the same weapons as private terminals.

This is what we see as the major challenge. Imagine hiring a dredging service, waiting a year and a half, two years, because it has to go to auction... You cannot seize a business opportunity of a dredger nearby, for example. It involves bidding and the dredger won’t wait. It is the same with revenue, you have an empty area, then someone’s interested, the Port Operator is interested but is unable to go ahead because it has to involve a bidding process.

RP: And, based on the concession, there will be this agility with the new lessees becoming developers of a port facility under a private contract, right?

Perfectly. How will it pan out? The current lessees are entitled to maintain the contract exactly as was agreed originally, when in force, and on expiry the concessionaire can renegotiate with them or someone else. But this lessee is entitled to keep the contractual basis that it had already negotiated. What’s so odd about that? This contract today is with the central government, is of a public nature and, in the first six months, will undergo a transition process to become a private contract. However, the economic bases of this contract cannot be altered, unless the lessee agrees. There will be freedom to negotiate. If in the future this concessionaire-lessee relationship is unsuccessful, then the original agreement prevails,

nothing changes, except for the fact that since the concessionaire is private, it does not need to call the ruling power, nor has the prerogative of imposing penalties. In turn, the new lessees will now be called port facility operators (PFOs) rather than lessees.

They will make contracts that are already originally private and have more negotiating freedom within the limits that the regulation permits.

RP: What are the main investments in the expected BRL 855 million?

Although maintenance dredging is considered an operating cost, it is in this account, because it is of such capital relevance that, at the time of communicating, we established it as an investment obligation. And it is the main investment obligation over the years. But we also have the structural refurbishment of port assets, such as storehouses, silos and a railroad branch, which require maintenance, as well as the onshore access and warehouses on the Vitória side that need to be restored. But these investments will apparently be small compared to those that the actual port facility operators will make. The moment the concessionaire signs the private agreement with this private partner, it will agree on the berth specializations. And so, this partner will place equipment and rollingstock for distribution, unlike today, leaving the ship directly to the truck inefficiently, but as is done in Santos. There, those who operate fertilizers do not unload straight onto the truck. Using onboard equipment, the cargo is already thrown onto the conveyor belt and continues on to the back area warehouse. Growth is exponential. And this is costly, which is why the BRL 855 million will be small close to these investments. The Port of Vitória will become a large jobsite.

RP: In terms of infrastructure, what is the current status of the port?

The depth dredging of the port was completed by the previous management using government financial resources of BRL 130 million. When we arrived in March 2019, no ship had yet benefited from this dredging, because shipping markers had still to be updated, for example. We invested in this upgrade, fulfilled all technical recommendations that the pilot station had submitted through the Navy and created a technical consensus. Next, we began to perform trial maneuvers and certified the new draft of 12.5 meters, but we stopped because of the sedimentation process from 2017 to 2021. Nature is always on the go, there’s no way out; and just look at the sluggish rate of public administration.

The depth dredging was done in 2017 but with the lack of maintenance, nature once again took over. When we first tried to benefit from the depth dredging, it was already time to do maintenance. We carried out this dredging in March and not only recovered the 12.5 meters but we’re also very hopeful we will operate a draft of 13 meters. We used bathymetry and sedimentation studies, carried out studies of our disposal area

interview

and left as a legacy to the concessionaire the dredging program.

The concessionaire will arrive, probably in September, and will have to undertake fresh dredging in the first quarter of 2023. It will have a lot of time to get organized and not allow this previous sedimentation to happen again.

RP: In addition to increased handling, do you expect an increase in the range of goods that pass through the port?

The demand studies have not shown very different freight than we’ve had to date. We handle a lot: for example, pig iron, fertilizer, malt, wheat, containerization, flexible tubes, design freight, fuel, coffee and granite. These cargoes will probably be the same in the forthcoming years. It’s very hard to estimate what we’ll have here in the next ten years, but it doesn’t seem there will be much change. What we think is that there will be an increase in those cargoes.

21

undergo all these phases, but all the premises, requirements and obligations that are in the contract will be transferred to the new shareholder. If the concessionaire enters and cannot operate because it has no more than 15% of an operator, a new substitute concessionaire will have the same constraint. If the latter happens to be a full time 100% operator, it will be unable to substitute the concessionaire. Now, if it is the owner of 15% or less of an operation, nothing changes. But a situation like this one seems incipient to me because Quadra Capital (winning bidder) has not even qualified, and strictly speaking, we do not yet know who the winner is because it has not been announced.

To talk about change of shareholder seems to me to be still quite premature. The guarantee is that it is not done by the concessionaire with total freedom, and this process always attracts a lot of attention from the market, especially from the regulatory agency that is legally bound to act and supervise such a process.

RP: What contingency resources does the port have in event of an oil spill and what is the response time to use these resources if there was an accident?

RP: What mechanisms were created in the concession process to prevent a possible dispute of a concessionaire that has direct interest in the operation?

First and foremost: the concessionaire is also forbidden to be a freight handler at the same time. For example, a shopping mall administrator cannot be a storekeeper at the same time, because it cannot create an unequal in-port competitive situation. By market demand we made some exceptions that do not denature this model matrix. It is possible that an operator is owner, shareholder of the concessionaire, or that the concessionaire may be an operator with a share of no more than 15%. In other words, it has no directive power over the operator or the operator over it.

RP: But can the concessionaire sell its shares?

In theory, according to the Concession Act, a concessionaire can transfer its share to another shareholder; it is not prohibited but requires a consensual transaction that needs the central government to act in agreement. In practice, in the case of the Port of Vitória, can it transfer its share in the future? It could, it will have to

photo: Publicity

We have an outsourced ongoing contract that allows us to have a contingency plan. All necessary rescue equipment is available full time, as well as a standby team. And we’ve invested in training, not only of the outsourcees but also of our own employees.

There is always a risk in any industrial and operating activity, but we consider that what needs to be done, in accordance with Codesa’s size, has been adopted to prevent any loss. This is not a concern because it’s a legal requirement, even in environmental licensing.

rescue

photo: Publicity

22

DAVIT ON ONE OF THE EDGES PROVIDES REFUGE FOR A MAN OVERBOARD, ALTHOUGH DIFFICULT TO OPERATE

The difficult task of rescuing man overboard What has changed in Portugal after the death of pilot Miguel Conceição in 2018 and how pilotage in Brazil copes with the topic It was 27th February 2018, Cascais Bay in Portugal. At 0h47min pilot Miguel Conceição – with 13 years of embarking and disembarking – fell into the sea when disembarking after yet another successful service aboard. At that moment, it was raining heavily with a four-meter Southwest swell, strong western wind (force five on the Beaufort scale with gusts of seven) and a 2.50m high tide expected for 0h59min. His lifejacket with flashlight inflated normally and, at 60 meters aft of the ship, he was reached and brought to the pilot boat’s stern. What so far seems a successful rescue became a nightmare because of the crew’s lack of training and proper equipment, a situation worsened by the environmental conditions.

The pilot boat’s driver left the cabin to help the seaman in the rescue. After lowering the stern ladder to which the pilot was clinging, the driver laid down on the deck with the vessel’s captain holding on to his legs in order to pull Miguel Conceição upwards, who had already gone under several times due to the swell. In another attempt, this time the seaman and master lowered the crane (davit) to raise the pilot, but the rescue cable did not reach the water level. They were also unaware that there was a lifting strap inside his jacket attached to the lifejacket.

rescue

With the waves violently striking against the boat, Miguel Conceição loosened his grip on the ladder and was seen to be already unconscious. At 1h04min, the pilot station finally alerted the Cascais harbor master. Three minutes later the ship returned to shelter the boat, and the seaman tried in vain to bring up the pilot using the boat hook. At 1h30min, the crew pinpointed the place and waited for the requested support. But the harbor master only ordered the rescue support at 1h44min, forty minutes after raising the alarm. The vessel from the lifeguard station arrived at 2h11min, and its crew needed the help of one of the pilot seamen to recover Miguel Conceição at 2h28min. He left behind his wife, to whom he was married for 11 years, and a son, then seven years old.

Until that day, safety exercises had never been undertaken in the port of Lisbon, from where the ship had departed, despite the fact that five minor accidents had been recorded the year before. Nor had the Lisbon Port Administration (APL), responsible for pilotage, ever prepared any procedure or handbook defining the roles of the three crew members in an emergency. Since they were not secured to the boat, they also ran a risk during the operation.

photo: Fernando Martinho

Four years after the incident, the Portuguese Association of Pilots of Bars and Ports (Apibarra) is still awaiting safety measures. The APL replaced the davit cables of the pilot boats for longer ones and,

23

through the Shipwreck Rescue Institute linked to the Navy, ran the survival and rescue course for pilots and crew members. The pilotage, however, is asking for a second training phase for rough weather and sea, in which it expects that operating limits will be set for pilot transfer based on the pilot boat’s equipment and the crew’s rescue capacity rather than on weather conditions.

“If the devices function with three-meter waves, for example, we cannot board in a worse condition”, explained the Sines pilot Miguel Castro, Apibarra president and senior vice-president of the European Maritime Pilots’ Association (EMPA).

The pilotage also wants to participate in survival-at-sea courses run by Merchant Navy officer colleagues, an essential training in the cold Portuguese waters, where it is not possible for the pilot to immediately climb onto the boat. Another issue is that the ports do not provide regular man-overboard training, and Apibarra maintains that these should be carried out regularly and in a structured manner. Nor were recommendations followed that were made by the Office for the Investigation of Maritime Accidents and the Aeronautical Meteorology Authority (GAMA), such as the provision of operational procedures for pilot transfer

by APL, which should actually be extended to all national ports, according to Castro:

PLATFORM IN THE STERN OF THE PARANAGUÁ PILOTAGE BOAT

rescue

photo: Publicity

24

PILOT ALCIONE, FROM RIO GRANDE, DURING TEST WITH THE PILOTAGE-DESIGNED STRETCHER

“Since we are port employees, there’s some inertia to adopt the measures, but this morosity also comes from us who have lowered our guard, thinking that it’s a one-off occurrence. Our role is to increase our safety.”

The risk still remains. In 2020, a colleague in training fell, in the port of Sines. Fortunately, it was nothing serious. This year, another colleague died in Taiwan, when he was disembarking in bad weather. According to statistics of the International Maritime Pilots’ Association (IMPA), with the exception of 2014 and 2015, since 2005 at least one of its members has died on the job, mostly when embarking or disembarking. In 2019, it was the case of pilot Valdir Cals in Rio de Janeiro.

OVERVIEW IN THE BRAZILIAN PILOTAGE ZONES In Brazil, after the deaths in Rio and Lisbon, the Brazilian Pilotage made videos for training the pilot boat crews, focusing on the use of man-overboard pick-up equipment and on providing first aid.

Also, it issued a handbook of operational procedures on how the crews deal with the problem.

Rumos Práticos consulted the available lifesaving equipment and the frequency of training the mariners in seven pilotage zones (ZPs) in different regions. Except for one of the ZPs, there is no standardization of additional equipment used on the pilot boats, such as a davit, pickup net or stern platform. In two ZPs, the pilot boats have the mandatory material (two life buoys with flashlight, inflatable raft and lifejackets), but these pilotages are implementing or studying new equipment. Concerning the training of the crews in the consulted ZPs, the frequency varies between fortnightly, monthly, quarterly and annually. Except for one, all the others have recorded falls in the last few years.

Consultant Roberto Santos Costa, who provides training in the area for some pilot stations, carried out a survey in the Maritime Court over the period from 1958 to 2019, and discovered 75 accidents reported in pilotage services not only with pilots, but also with the pilot boat crew and other professionals who use the same embarkation devices. Eighty percent of the incidents occurred on the pilot or trapdoor ladder, the majority when boarding.

It is a complicated matter, since there is no sacred doctrine on how to proceed in a man-overboard case. When the topic is training, however, there is no doubt that it is important to maintain a regular program for the pilot boat crews and watchtower operators:

25

photo: Publicity

rescue

FIRST AID TRAINING AT ESPÍRITO SANTO PILOTAGE

“A successful rescue has to do with competence of the crew and their familiarity with the recovery equipment available on the pilot boat, in addition to their first aid qualifications, especially in the cold waters of Europe and Southern Brazil. The training of operators is also fundamental, for providing an onshore ambulance and another support boat if necessary, alerting the Navy and other vessels about the fall, sending the ship to the anchorage area to await instructions, among other actions”, explains Roberto Costa.

react calmly, the pilot boat could become an enemy and increase the danger.

He considers it important to define a recovery method and undertake exercises in as close a scenario as possible, not just with dummies and in favorable conditions. In Holland, the pilots train in a real-time situation offshore, wearing the lifejackets they use every day.

Pilot Otavio Fragoso, from Rio de Janeiro, former senior vicepresident of IMPA for eight years, reckons that progress would mean each ZP having standardized pilot boats, rescue techniques and lifejackets, in order to ensure that the training is also standardized.

In the Brazilian Navy and the Fire Department, the military officers usually dive into the water to rescue the man-overboard, such is the difficulty of the operation. About a year ago a pilot fell when leaving Vitória (Espírito Santo state) and was rescued by a mariner from the pilot station who jumped into the water.

In the opinion of Vice-Admiral Roberto Gondim, former director of the Brazilian Navy’s Department of Ports and Coasts, who currently works with training, a single solution will not solve the problem of every pilot station:

“Although ideally a pilot boat has a bunch of possibilities, we have no guarantee of success if the sea is very rough or the pilot unconscious“, he emphasizes, and he thinks it very difficult to check the effectiveness of a method that only uses dummies.

“I’ve never seen training in a rough sea and with real people.”

“Each vessel has its own form of recovery. The Navy’s ships have their own means by swimming, motorboat, helicopter, in short, there is a wide range of methods. It is the same thing with pilotage. They need to have a rescue mode and crew members regularly prepared to attend an emergency. Yes, this is vital because the rescue is a very difficult procedure. People become nervous because they don’t know how to proceed and in what state the man overboard is, in order to recover him. And if they don’t

After registering two falls in 2004 with difficulty in rescuing one of the pilots, Rio Grande Pilotage (Rio Grande do Sul) developed a device specifically for recovery, implemented in the four bar pilot boats, like the European pilot boats. This is a stretcher installed on the bow that goes up and down like a platform, helped by a davit, and may be electrically or manually operated.

The two last structures, implemented in 2018, cost around BRL 20,000 per pilot boat. The pilots’ lifejackets were procured by the

26

rescue

pilot station and have a strobe light and electronic signal (AIS) for easy location.

In July Paranaguá Pilotage (PR) will also have all its four bar pilot boats standardized with a bow platform, upon the arrival of a new vessel. Pilot Victor Demaison, managing director of the station, defends standardization of lifejackets for pilots and calls attention to how important it is to maintain the equipment by exchanging the CO² capsule. The pilot boards with two water activated strobe lights (AIS), one on the jacket and the other on the backpack, should he fall face downward.

the pilot boat rose up, my foot jammed between the vessels, and I twisted my ankle. I made a mistake in judgment, but the ladder wasn’t set in accordance with the rules. On the second occasion, that same week, I thought nothing bad could happen again and continued to embark with a bandaged foot. Obviously, it wasn’t a good idea. This ship had a small freeboard, and these are the worst, in my opinion. Moreover, the arrangement was irregular. I lost my balance and fell backwards onto the deck”, he explains, “I needed to suffer two accidents in order to open my eyes. It’s a frightening experience. We’re our own worst enemies.”

photo: Publicity

“Without these resources they won’t find you. The worst problem is seeing in the dark. When you fall, the pilot boat is moving alongside the ship and you are left behind”, he says.

Pilot Bruno Fonseca, vice-president of Brazilian Pilotage, also recalls the need for a crotch strap, to prevent the jacket from slipping off the body. In Ceará, where he works, the pilotage studies the most suitable device to add to the mandatory items of the pilot boats: “In our case, apparently the best thing is the davit. The platform is not yet a consensual item amongst the pilots. The key question is how to transboard the person when conscious or, even worse, unconscious. And one of the hypotheses we reached is to place on a floating stretcher the man overboard, and tow him into port. Of course, this could imply secondary drowning, but it is a last resort.”

Pilot Porthos Lima, from Rio de Janeiro, advocates the use of an individual inflatable raft that, in fact, can be towed in the same way to a more sheltered place, at low speed. He says that, even in a stormy sea, the man overboard is able to climb onto the raft and close it as if he’s in a cocoon. It is a means of protecting him until proper help arrives. Lima has tested the equipment personally in the water.

“In the accidents we studied, the pilot died in the end, because he couldn’t be lifted back onto the pilot boat”, commented the former Brazilian Pilotage technical director.

Being aware that you’re working in a perilous environment, maintaining the personal protection equipment up-to-date and having trained crews are key factors, as well as knowing the embarkation and disembarkation regulations, in order to identify a potential hazard. In April, Brazilian Pilotage hosted a webinar with Dutch pilot Arie Palmers, who became an active watchdog of irregular devices after suffering two accidents in 2018. According to his statistics, more than 50% of resources on board when he is embarking are in a poor state of repair or wrongly installed.

“In my first accident, I chose the wrong timing to move from the pilot boat to the ship, at the lowest point of the wave. When

ITAJAÍ PILOTAGE TRAINING USING A NET FOR PICKING UP MAN OVERBOARD

27

“The pilot shouldn’t have to take an unnecessary risk” The Admiralty Court’s official statistics on accidents reveals that, between 2007 and 2020, 18 pilots fell overboard during the transfer operations, 72% of which occurred boarding. Over those 14 years, there were five injured and one death in Rio de Janeiro. In the opinion of vice-admiral Wilson Pereira de Lima Filho, presiding judge of the Admiralty Court, recently nominated for a directorship in the National Agency for Water Transportation (Antaq), the number is quite small considering the quantity of maneuvers, but is always concerning when addressing human lives. On analyzing the incidents, he considers that there are cases in which the pilot's lack of attention and his willingness to perform the service, regardless of the boarding conditions, contribute to the accidents.

RUMOS PRÁTICOS: Admiral, how do you interpret the accident statistics in the transfer of pilots?

In recent years, we have had 18 accidents. If we consider the number of maneuvers, it’s not a large number. But my perception is that there should be no accidents since any accident is a concern. So, it is relevant that we take all necessary measures to prevent them.

RP: The Court has a bulletin in which it disseminates the lessons learned from the accidents in general. Looking at these cases of falls, what have we learned?

When we dwell on these accidents, three elements are involved: boarding (pilot boat), the person (pilot) and the ship. The pilot boat must be certified by the National Pilotage Council, which gives due importance to this. Its crew members must be properly trained in the procedures of approaching the ship, the rigging must have correct maintenance, and everyone must wear personal protection equipment.

The second point is the ship, which must be at the appropriate speed and provide a ladder (pilot and combination ladders) in good conditions and complying with the standards. The pilot must not board if the conditions are not suitable, nor run any unnecessary risk.

And, if he is on board and the conditions are unfavorable, he must continue to the next port.

And completing the triad with the person, the pilot must be wearing all safety equipment and in fit and healthy conditions in order not to endanger his life. If these three elements are observed, we will mitigate the occurrence of accidents.

RP: And which of these elements usually fails and contributes to the pilot’s fall?

I think a combination of lack of fitness in some situations and running a risk when keen to do the job, even in poor conditions.

Our ports are safe, the benchmark of our country, and we owe much of this to the pilots’ efficiency.

photo: Gustavo Stephan

rescue

28

environment

photo: Gustavo Stephan

The shipping industry’s adaptations to reduce carbon emissions

Feeling the market pressure, shipowners and ports make a move to achieve the IMO environmental targets In April 2018, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) set the target of a 40% reduction in the intensity of carbon emissions from ships by 2030 and 70% by 2050, with base year 2008. The UN agency also established that total greenhouse gas emissions should drop 50% by 2050. But, after all, what has happened to maritime transportation in four years? Are we still far from achieving the goals? Rumos Práticos set out to find answers and offer an overview of the situation.

To have an idea of the extent of the problem, an IMO study estimates that shipping is responsible for 2.2% carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, equivalent to the pollution in countries such as Canada and France, according to Global Carbon Project data. Fossil fuels, such as maritime fuel, discharge 100 times more carbon dioxide into the air than all the volcanoes on the planet, contributing to global warming and aggravation of its consequences for humanity. If nothing is done, the rising temperature could lead to the largest migratory wave ever.

CO2 emissions will also stay in the oceans, raising their level of acidity and endangering marine life.

In 2020, the IMO began dealing with reducing emissions of another pollutant, sulfur dioxide (SO2), calling for a 0.5% limit on fuel oil. Last year, the agency introduced in the short term an Energy Efficiency Existing Ship Index (EEXI), in addition to an annual Carbon Intensity Indicator (CII), expected to enter in force next year. Port authorities are encouraged to give incentives to A and B listed vessels. Any vessel that receives a D or E classification for three consecutive years must submit a corrective action plan to reach level C. IMO’s general strategy will be reviewed in 2023.

environment

The International Chamber of Shipping (ICS), which represents more than 80% of the Merchant Navy, says that in current production rates carbon neutral fuels are not commercially available on the scale necessary for the world’s fleet. The Chamber proposes to create a global fund to the value of five billion US dollars to accelerate the development of alternative fuels and propulsion systems. This fund would be fed by the contribution of USD 2 per ton of used fossil fuel.

"Undoubtedly technological upgrades can help transition to a zero-emission industry. However, huge strides must still be taken if we want to reach the necessary levels of readiness for scale implementation. This includes building the proper infrastructure to give support to this transition. We have to be able to put zeroemission ships in the water by 2030 without challenging prices or safety issues”, stated Guy Platten, ICS Secretary-General, at the launch of the proposal.

The French group CMA CGM has commissioned 22 container carriers to join its fleet by 2024, 12 fueled by liquefied natural gas (LNG), with fewer pollutants, although they are not carbon neutral. Other wind-powered projects adopt wing sails to reduce fuel consumption. Another French company, Zéphyr & Borée, has developed a ship of the same type to transport the Ariane 6 launch system from Europe to the launch site in French Guiana.

The vessel called Canopée, 121 meters long and 23 meters wide, is expected to be delivered this year and will reduce pollutant emissions by 35%, according to the company, which also designs container carriers with 1,830 TEU capacity.

Neoline is another French company in this pursuit of innovation.

The team is developing the RoRo demonstration wind-powered ship Neoliner planned for 2024. The vessel, 136 meters long and 24.2 meters wide, will have capacity to carry up to 500 cars. The project has the partnership of companies such as Renault and Michelin. The idea is to start operating by connecting St-Nazaire in France to Halifax and Baltimore on the East Coast of the USA. "Two pilot-ships are planned based on this concept, which will be the first step before considering larger sizes and other shipping sectors", informs the Neoline site. project image: Publicity

Considering a world that no longer tolerates the practice of greenwashing (misleading green advertising) and is increasingly closed to unsustainable businesses, the shipping industry has been active because it can benefit from alternatives that escape the oil quotations.

29

THE VESSEL CANOPÉE WILL HAVE SAILS TO CARRY ROCKET TO FRENCH GUIANA

30

environment

In Brazil, Vale is already operating a mega ship fitted with rotary sails and has a 325,000-ton capacity. Sea Zhoushan has berthed in the Tubarão (Espírito Santo-ES) and Ponta da Madeira (MaranhãoMA) terminals. It is fitted with five sails that allow an efficiency gain of up to 8% and a reduction of up to 3,400 tons of carbon dioxide per ship/year. If the pilot project proves efficient, it is estimated that at least 40% of the fleet is apt to use the technology. The Vale Institute of Technology has an agreement with São Paulo University (USP) to provide support in cutting operational costs and fuel, in order to meet the IMO environmental requirements.

Professor Newton Pereira, from the Fluminense Federal University (UFF), with post-doctorate in naval and ocean engineering from USP, says that Brazil needs to be ready to meet the new demands of the maritime industry, such as, for example, LNG supply and alternative fuels for the ships, in addition to electric power for the berthing period, which requires infrastructure adaptations in the logistics chain.

“IMO’s targets are ambitious. It will not be easy. However, the ship owners are adapting, renewing their fleets. The challenge for reducing emissions in the port zones is enormous, because developing the necessary infrastructure is complicated. The pressure on ports should increase in the coming years”, he concluded during a presentation in the recent Cooperaportos webinar, an event organized by the National Agency for Water Transportation (Antaq).

project image: Publicity

On the carbon neutral line, The Danish group A.P. Moller-Maersk promises to introduce in 2024 the first of eight container carriers fueled by methanol or low-sulfur fuel oil. The vessels will be 350 meters in length, 53.5 meters in width and have a 16,000 TEU capacity. The new design promises an energy gain of 20% per container carried. The crew accommodation and bridge will be located in the bow to increase cargo quantity. The group signed a partnership with six companies to supply at least 730,000 tons/ year of methanol by 2025.

In turn, Norwegian shipowners Höegh Autoliners announced that in 2024 they will launch a RoRo that could operate using ammonia fuel, with capacity for 9,100 cars. According to CEO Andreas Enger, the goal is to reach zero emission by 2040.

MAERSK CONTAINER CARRIER CAN BE METHANOL-FUELED

environment

31

PORT RACE Ports are also eager to accompany the market evolution. Overseas, the Panama Canal and the Port of Leixões in Portugal are two examples that have set targets to become carbon neutral by 2030 and 2035, respectively.

In Brazil, the Suape, Itaqui, Pecém and Açu complexes offer tariff discounts to ships that emit less nitric oxide and sulfur oxide, based on the Environmental Ship Index. More than 8,000 vessels are registered in the program. With a view to the future market, Pecém also signed memoranda with companies to install a green hydrogen hub, the production of which could benefit energy generation from offshore wind farms. In the state of Ceará, five projects are under analysis.

superintendent for the agency’s Performance, Development and Sustainability, during the Nordeste Export forum.

Larissa Amorim, Undersecretary for Sustainability in the Infrastructure Ministry, says that, in her opinion, the cultural change in the port sector is fast and “we’re being forced to incorporate it”: “Four years ago, there were public ports with no active and structured environmental area. Today this is unacceptable. Even the former Special Ports Bureau had only two analysts working on that and other matters. And today we have an Undersecretary for Sustainability in the Ministry. Internalization of this culture only makes the sector stronger. Anyone not adapting will be swallowed up by the market.”

photo: Publicity

“We’re learning together, in partnership with institutes such as the Federal University of Ceará and the Ceará Federation of Industries. As yet there is no technology to carry green hydrogen in ships. We’re thinking on the same lines as the scientists on what to do to get ahead”, said the director for Institutional Relations of the Pecém Complex, during a panel on green projects in the ports of Nordeste Export, an event held in April this year in Salvador (State of Bahia-BA).

Carlos Cavalcanti, Environment and Sustainability director of the Suape Complex, Pernambuco-PE, upheld the importance of a transition plan as a driving force for a sustainable economy. He believes that green hydrogen will be a vector of this process. In February, the port was chosen to obtain resources to be used in fuel production and research. Last year, they issued a decree offering a 99% discount for vessels that use green hydrogen.

According to the director, the complex is also doing advanced studies to provide the ships with clean energy.

“We need an active attitude to decarbonize our economy, adding value to the local production, because social vulnerability is still amongst us. We have 7,000 families living in our vicinity”, the director recalled.

The Port of Açu in Rio de Janeiro is another complex that has signed a memorandum of understanding for companies to perform feasibility studies to set up a green hydrogen plant.

On the government side, since 2012 Antaq has been disseminating the Environmental Performance Index (IDA). Pecém ranks third among the organized ports. Six years ago, it was ranked 17th. The Index considers 38 indicators with different weights, including marine waste removal services and ships’ energy supply.

“This type of incentive is key to the ongoing improvement of ports”, stressed the acting director of Antaq, José Renato Fialho,

ACCORDING TO UNDERSECRETARY LARISSA AMORIM, THERE IS FAST CULTURAL CHANGE IN THE SECTOR

32

energy

DISTANT HORIZONS FOR OFFSHORE WIND FARMS

Offshore fields could advance green hydrogen production for ships, but they might only take root in 2029

33

image: Publicity

energy

THE MARIN INSTITUTE TESTED BARRIERS AGAINST SHIPS COLLIDING WITH WIND TURBINES

energy

One of the possibilities of the maritime industry for carbon neutral emissions is the production of green hydrogen, which can benefit Brazil from the enormous energy generation potential based on offshore wind farms. In April, the Brazilian Institute for the Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (Ibama) already received 50 projects of this kind, totaling 117 gigawatts (GW). This is almost 70% of the entire installed generation capacity of the country (173GW, according to the National Power System OperatorONS) and three times the 35.3GW operation of the offshore wind farms operating worldwide, according to data from the Global Wind Energy Council. However, it will take the country some time to start benefiting from the favorable winds.

The projects in Brazil stretch along the coast of Rio Grande do Sul, Rio de Janeiro, Espírito Santo, Rio Grande do Norte, Ceará and Piauí. Shell, for example, has six 17GW projects, including one in Ceará, enjoying the proximity with the green hydrogen hub planned in the port complex of Pecém.

2029. It is a robust infrastructure that requires heavy investment and thorough planning.”

Clarice Ferraz, director of the Energy Sector Think Tank Institute (Ilumina), also stresses that there is a lack of economic competitiveness to boost this market: “The offshore wind farms are more costly projects, and another problem is the complexity in bringing this power to the continent for the consumer. All this encumbers the tariff. It is the most expensive renewable energy compared to the others. A specific auction could instigate development, since guaranteed demand would be safe for the investors, but there is no provision for this public policy instrument. In the meantime, the environment is uncertain. And we have other potential resources to be exploited.” photo: Publicity

34

To fill the regulatory gap, the Presidency of Brazil published Decree 10,946 that provides the assignment of use for this purpose in territorial waters, in the exclusive economic zone and on the Brazilian continental shelf. This assignment can take place through a federal government bidding process or independent request by stakeholders.

After proposing an exploration area to the Ministry of Mines and Energy, if there are no bidders, the developer needs to obtain a prior statement of interference from no less than nine agencies: Navy Command; Brazilian Air Force; Brazilian Institute of the Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (Ibama); Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation; Brazilian Petroleum, Natural Gas and Biofuels Agency (ANP); Ministry of Infrastructure; Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Supply; Ministry of Tourism; and National Telecommunications Agency (Anatel). The purpose of the extensive review is to observe possible conflicts with the activities under these institutions’ supervision, such as in shipping safety, ordered by the Brazilian Navy. One of the wind farms, for example, was designed over an access channel.

Once the developer is in possession of the assignment of use, the environmental licensing for the project may be started. In Ibama, the processes today are at the same stage. They all received a term of reference with guidelines for the environmental impact study before the license application, which, so far, has been requested by only one of them. Roberta Cox, coordinator of the institute’s Port and Offshore Structure licensing, believes that the projects are on hold, waiting for the regulation of the federal decree that comes into force on 15th June: “It’s a growing market worldwide. Brazil is ranked one of the top players, but not for yesterday. The bidders’ idea is to operate from

CLARICE FERRAZ, OF ILUMINA INSTITUTE, BELIEVES THAT WIND FARM ENERGY IS NOT YET COMPETITIVE

One of the points to be noted in implementing the projects is the shipping safety. A study made in the North Sea for the Dutch government estimates that the collision risk between ships and wind turbines will increase by 2.5 times each year until 2030.

The Marin Institute tested three types of barrier against this type of accident in a test tank, after the bulk carrier Julietta D collided in January with a tanker ship and a wind turbine foundation in the region.

energy

“We undertook an intensive analysis of the traffic with 2,500 turbines planned for the North Sea”, commented Bas Buchner, president at Marin, whose studies concluded that a barrier will never be the only solution, and emergency tugs will also be required, for example.

WHAT PIANC SAYS

According to this Pianc general guide, the risk is considered intolerable for one nautical mile between the shipping lane and wind farms, being tolerable between two and five nautical miles and acceptable from a five miles distance.

In addition to the risk of collision, the presence of an offshore group of wind turbines might affect electronic equipment, creating echoes on onshore and onboard radars, which could cause interferences, such as false echoes or inability to distinguish close targets. The presence of wind turbines can also interfere in VHF communication, AIS devices that use these frequencies and even in DGPS corrections used in GPS devices that provide the vessel’s positioning for onboard equipment, such as electronic graphs.

Pedro Parente does not disregard the need for further measures to mitigate accidents, in addition to already existing recommendations: “It may happen that the ships, after leaving the shipping lane, take a direction in which the risk is increasing. And perhaps then it is necessary to widen the pilotage area or institute high-seas pilotage, which occurs in regions not so near the coast but that justify the service due to the perilous environment.” photo: Paula Carrubba

Pilot Pedro Parente, president at Ceará Marine Pilots, published an article on LinkedIn regarding this topic. He pointed out that, despite being less disputed than onshore areas, the maritime space is used and shared by both merchant ships and other players, namely fishing vessels and leisure boats. For this reason, he recalls, the World Association for Waterborne Transport Infrastructure (Pianc) published a report with recommendations on minimum distances between the shipping lanes and new offshore wind farm projects. The association considered especially the rules of Ripeam-72 and Resolutions MSC.137 (76) and MSC/ Circ. 1053 of the International Maritime Organization (IMO), which provide minimum standards of ship maneuverability.

35

PEDRO PARENTE DOES NOT DISREGARD FURTHER ACCIDENT-MITIGATING MEASURES

36

fast & focused

PROTOCOL

photo: Publicity

PILOTAGE SIGNS PARTNERSHIP WITH THE BRAZILIAN SPACE AGENCY Brazilian Pilotage and the Brazilian Space Agency (AEB) have signed a protocol of intent to exchange knowhow and to develop studies to use space technology in the activity. The protocol was signed during the visit of Colonel Engineer Carlos Augusto Teixeira de Moura, AEB president, to São Paulo Pilotage facilities.

"The Agency deploys space systems. And satellites are nothing more than sensors in orbit that can observe the planet Earth and collect data on meteorology, tides and currents. Moreover, we have other applications such as systems of communication, forecasting extreme events, and so on. We believe that we can improve the quality of the information that impacts the pilotage", stated Col Carlos Moura.

photo: Publicity

EVENT CONGRESS ON ACCIDENTS BRINGS TOGETHER PILOTS IN COLOMBIA Pilots Bruno Fonseca (Ceará), Carlos Alberto de Souza Filho (São Paulo), Luiz Antonio (Rio de Janeiro) and Porthos Lima (Rio de Janeiro) attended the I Congress on Lessons Learned from Serious Accidents or Incidents in Pilotage Ship Handling [I Congreso Lecciones Aprendidas de Graves Accidentes o Incidentes en Maniobras de Practicaje], in Cartagena de Indias. The event was organized by the Colombian Maritime Pilots’ Association (ANPRA), that united professionals in the field from all over the world, in addition to specialists on the topic, such as engineers and lawyers. Pilot Souza Filho presented the case of an incident in the Port of Santos.

fast & focused

37

ENVIRONMENT

photo: Publicity

FURTHER INVESTMENT IN SUSTAINABLE ENERGY

Like São Paulo Pilotage, the company Itajaí e Navegantes Práticos (Santa Catarina) invested in a solar energy system and now generates its own energy, contributing to protect the environment. The measure reduced the equivalent of the deforestation of more than 4,000 trees a year, preventing an annual CO2 emission of 74,002t.

PILOT FEIJÓ RETIREMENT Pilot João Carlos Corrêa de Albuquerque Feijó has now retired. He worked in the Ceará pilotage zone (ZP-05) and also served in the Brazilian Navy. Brazilian Pilotage thanks him for the years of dedication and important services to society by contributing to shipping safety, to preserving the environment and to the efficiency of the Ceará ports.

We wish him happiness in the cycle to come!

CERTIFIED WATCHTOWER IN SALVADOR The Salvador Pilots station (watchtower) was certified by the National Pilotage Council, represented on that occasion by pilot Bruno Fonseca, current vice-president of the institution and its technical director. Present at the event were pilot Luiz Carlos Rosas, CEO of Salvador Pilots, and pilot treasurer Omar Kharin Darian, in addition to employee Artur and attendant Ricardo.

photo: Publicity

OPERATIONS CENTER

MEDIA SUCCESS @

ADRENALINE IN AÇU They say that calm seas don’t make good sailors. Nor do they usually attract an audience, at least not in social media. So much so that the highlight of the period in our networks was the embarkation of pilot Diogo Weber in very adverse conditions in the Port of Açu (Rio de Janeiro). The video of the transfer operation from the pilot boat to the ship went viral and reached 156,000 people on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

@freepik

ACCIDENT-PREVENTION KNOWHOW The project of Brazilian Pilotage to perform a webinar with pilot Arie Palmers, showing arrangements of hazardous embarkations, spread the knowhow and already generated almost 3,000 views on our YouTube channel. During a live broadcast, hundreds of people worldwide watched the perilous cases selected by our Dutch colleague, who became a supervisor of problems.

TRANSLATING THE PROFESSION Assisting the captain when entering and leaving ports may sound very vague when explaining what the pilot’s actual work on the bridge is. This is why we attempt to show – in carousel didactic format – some examples of what the pilotage service is about… in practice! And it worked. The publication reached over 10,000 internet users.

BRAZILIAN PILOTAGE INSTITUTE

The reality of ship handling today in Brasília The most modern simulations center at the service of port development

REBOCADORES AZIMUTAIS AZIMUTH STERN DRIVE (ASD)

Rebocadores Azimutais – Azimuth Stern Drive (ASD) is a practical handbook with didactic content and illustrations on how to navigate and maneuver with tugs fitted with azimuth propulsion systems, prevalent in Brazilian ports.

The author Luiz Felipe de Oliveira, 11 years as master of port tugs, began his career in 2004 as an assistant deck mariner. In 2010, he was first placed at the head of a tugboat in Smit Rebras and from then on he perceived the need to have reference material at hand. This feeling was reinforced after opening his Instagram page (_life. at.sea), when several maritime professionals contacted him to clarify doubts.

When working at Camorim Serviços Marítimos, Luiz Felipe de Oliveira performed thousands of maneuvers in different ports and contributed to training and promoting dozens of maritime colleagues. Today he works for Starnav Serviços Marítimos and embarks from the port of Itaguaí, on Madeira Island (Rio de Janeiro).

“We turn, we move sideways, we get to any position, it feels really like an extension of my body, there are no limitations. If this happens to you, don’t worry, you’ve just achieved the state of complete mastery”, writes the author in the preface.