Rumos Práticos 65 (English)

Brazilian Maritime Pilots' Association Magazine 65th edition - June to September/2023

We’ve reached

Patos Lagoon

editorial We have now gone through half the number of pilotage stations in the series of reports regarding the Brazilian ZPs and their special features. This time, we visited ZP-20 in Rio Grande do Sul. There, the pilot service is mandatory for ships requesting the public dock in Porto Alegre and inland terminals, and also for those sailing in the opposite direction towards Rio Grande. As the reader will see in the following pages, its characteristic is unique, marked by long navigation, challenging channels and an adverse climate.

The recent months have been eventful. We attended the Latin American Pilots’ Forum in Panamá, as well as the First Port Planning Seminar and the Brazilian Hydrography Symposium in Rio de Janeiro – all closely linked to Brazilian pilotage.

In two texts we also address ESG – Environmental, Social and Governance –, a subject which is increasingly popular in the maritime and port sector. After all, are we doing our part for a better future for humanity?

Another consideration of ours in the edition is using a mobile phone during maneuvers. We reproduced two international publications on this matter and we raised that there are already some cases of accidents recorded in Brazil.

The Fast & Focused column gives relevant notes on the activity and Media Success addresses the top audience success in our social media.

Good reading!

Otavio Fragoso is editor in charge.

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 cover photo: Gustavo Stephan

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.

index

6 The vastness of Patos Lagoon and its tributaries

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16 Panama hosts the Latin American Pilots’ Forum

20 About the First Port Planning Seminar in Rio de Janeiro

23 Pilots Adonis dos Santos and Gustavo Martins represent pilotage at the Brazilian Hydrography Symposium

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26 Pilotage: ESG beyond rhetoric 28 Socioenvironmental project is implemented in Bahia Pilotage Zone

30 Distraction in the palm of the hand

31 Signals 33 Mobile phone use in pilotage waters

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pilotage in Brazil

The vastness of Patos Lagoon and its tributaries Widespread navigation, critical passages and extreme climate distinguish Pilotage Zone 20 (P20)

Pa

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ag

oo

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Itapuã Lighthouse

New Por

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Santa Clara Terminal

Tergasul Terminal

Mobile Bridge Port of Porto Alegre

Anchorage areas Wait Point

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pilotage in Brazil

photo: Gustavo Stephan

PILOT BEDRAN AT TURNING MOMENT IN THE PUBLIC DOCK

In 1750, when General Gomes Freire was put in charge of transporting Azoreans to occupy Jesuit lands of the Missions in the West of Rio Grande do Sul, he believed that the easiest way would be to split the Rio Grande bar in boats, crossing the Patos Lagoon and sailing up the Guaíba and Jacuí rivers. Soon, therefore, information spread about the navigation hardships between the treacherous shallows. Almost three centuries later, the scenario has obviously improved, but similar challenges are still impacting for the pilots who steer the ships in Pilotage Zone 20. The access channels continue shallow and narrow, as well as with adverse environmental conditions. This is the eleventh report of the series on the Brazilian pilotage zones.

There are almost 200 nautical miles to the farthest terminal north of Porto Alegre, with 150 signal buoys, over a distance similar to that of the USA Mississippi River. The voyages may take more than 24 hours due to the restricted night operation in the channels outside Patos Lagoon. The pilots need to adapt the crossing to leave at dawn, normally at anchor and waiting inside. In Rio Grande, they board at the waiting point south of São José do Norte, where they change over with the ZP-19 pilots who entered the bar, in defined anchorage areas or in Porto Novo.

Sailing up to the capital of Rio Grande do Sul there are 40 miles to the Lagoon, plus 95 to cross it and another 35 to the public quays at Porto Alegre. After crossing by the new bridge and the swing span bridge, the Guaíba River forks to the Gravataí river, site of the gas terminal (Tergasul), five miles ahead, at Canoas, and to the Jacuí River, where the petrochemical terminal is located (Santa Clara), 18 miles ahead, in Triunfo.

The first crossing to the Lagoon takes forty or fifty hours with key aid of a portable pilot unit (PPU) – an electronic navigation tablet with separate antenna that provides more accurate data than the onboard equipment. The pilot must pay constant and close attention. This is the

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Feitoria channel stretch, feared even by yachtsmen. Despite the apparently straight line on the nautical chart, there are seven miles of zigzag maneuvers due to sedimentation. Moreover, the channel is very exposed to winds and currents on both sides.

“Anyone navigating through the middle of the buoys runs aground. There are moments when the ship is so tilted that we see a port buoy to starboard”, comments pilot José Bedran Simões. “You have to compensate all the time, it’s not an easy task”, says pilot Rafael Magalhães.

Pilot Geraldo Luiz de Almeida, approved in the 1996 pilot selection process, underwent his toughest situation in June this year, precisely in Feitoria: “We had to tow a ship 200 meters in length and 32 meters in breadth, at a speed of two knots. The ship was fine when it left Porto Alegre, but on arrival at the Southern part, the bow tugboat had an engine problem and I was forced to invert the tugs, moving the stern tug to the bow. This ship had a construction flaw. When the propeller was out of the water, the whole machine would go off. This is why the vessel needed to sail up and down the Lagoon with tugs. On the outward trip, Rui [pilotage dean] and José Bedran Simões were the pilots. On the return, Rafael Magalhães and I took turns, one on the ship and the other on the bow tug. He was on the tug when the failure occurred. We left Porto Alegre at 8am, entered Feitoria at 9am the next morning, and only reached Rio Grande at 8pm. It was my worst maneuver ever."

In Feitoria and the other narrow shallow channels, the pilotage feels the squat and bench effects, which can cause the vessel to touch the bottom and cause the loss of governability, respectively. It was the second effect that caused the grounding of the Ever Given in the Suez Canal, Egypt, in 2021.

“Here we see the entire theoretical hydrodynamics part that we studied in the pilot selection process”, says Geraldo Almeida.

The low depth restricts the draft to 5.18 meters, and some channels are less than 80 meters wide.

photo: Gustavo Stephan

“When we approach the bank, the water flows faster and the pressure drops, causing suction in the stern, tossing you to the other side and then back again, bouncing back and forth (banking effect). If we are a little more than 15 meters away from our route, the yellow sign soon lights up”, pilot José Bedran Simões tells us.

PILOT GERALDO DURING ENTRY OF THE SHIP HYDRA DAWN TO THE CAPITAL

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With regard to speed, he adds, we must finely tune it for safe traffic.

“To reduce the squat and interaction with the banks, we must slow down. However, to do so, less water is thrown on the rudder response, which leaves the boat more susceptible to the effects of wind and current. We cannot therefore go too slow or too fast.

We must watch and come to a ‘compromise’”, he jokes.

The hydrodynamic effects are minimized with the higher water level, as happens in winter. On the other hand, the weather conditions are quite adverse in that season. In summer, it’s the opposite.

In the ZP the prevailing wind is landward from the East. But the strongest winds come from the West, from Uruguay, and from the Southwest as the cold front approaches, both being more common in winter. At up to 25 knots, we can still navigate safely in the narrow channels.

In the extratropical cyclone that impacted southern Brazil in mid-July, a ship from Tergasul had to sail for more than 24 hours into the Lagoon until the wind dropped. As a result of the poor weather, the pilot failed to anchor to await the time to enter Feitoria. One anchor was not enough to secure the vessel and he was afraid to drop two to the bottom and entangle the ropes.

“Here there’s no breeze. We are bothered a lot with the wind because the ship’s area is more out of the water (sailing area) rather than in”, explains pilot Geraldo Almeida, who was at one point blown outside the channel in a summer storm with wind at more than 100km/h, in the middle of the return trip from Santa Clara terminal.

The region is also very impacted by fog, especially in winter.

Sometimes, the visibility could be zero during the crossing. In Feitoria, since it is not possible to anchor due to the narrowing of the channel and contingency anchoring areas, it is ideal according to pilot Bedran Simões to continue moving ahead slowly, with the help of the PPU, a smaller radar, bow lookout and sounding the appropriate foghorn. In the Lagoon, where mooring is feasible, he once had to stay for three days until the fog dissipated.

The currents are another relevant factor for maneuvers.

Astronomical tides have little influence in this case. It is rain and wind that alter the Lagoon’s levels. Normally the ebb tide does not exceed one knot. However, when there is a heavy rainfall at the headwaters to the North of Guaíba and this water is repressed by the Southern wind, it is then strongly discharged, at four knots in the North-South direction and catching the ship by the storm in the curved crossing under the swing bridge.

The span is 58 meters wide, and the gas and chemical tankers crossing there have a breadth of 25 meters, with little margin for

PILOT MAGALHÃES CONCENTRATING ON ANCHORING IN RIO GRANDE

PASSING UNDER THE MOBILE BRIDGE

photo: Gustavo Stephan

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error. The wind limit under the bridges is 15 knots, according to the Porto Alegre River Captaincy Standards and Procedures. The air draft is restricted by the clear headroom of 33.60 meters.

“I consider it the ZP’s most stressful crossing, although Feitoria is much longer. If you don’t consider the ship’s movement, it will be thrown against the pillar”, emphasizes pilot Magalhães.

On the way back to Porto Alegre, on the crossing from Guaíba to the Lagoon, where the Itapuã lighthouse is located, there is a strong cross current for the ship, which can reach four knots.

“I’ve already crossed there with the ship moving sideways, with a difference of 15 degrees from bow to bottom”, Bedran Simões recalls.

In the Lagoon, navigation is similar to being in the open sea. With an approximate area of 9,800 square kilometers, the average width and depth are 30 miles and eight meters, respectively. There are places where you don’t see the banks. In this stretch lasting nine hours, the pilotage monitors the work of the ship’s officers.

photo: reproduction of a video by pilot Geraldo Luiz de Almeida

In Rio Grande, the pilot can either disembark at the waiting and pilot changeover point (if the ship is sailing outside the bar), anchor in defined areas or moor the ship in Porto Novo. The narrowest areas, for smaller vessels, are also affected by the strong current.

After accompanying a return trip from Porto Alegre in a bulk carrier, Rumos Práticos went aboard a gas tanker that anchored in this area with pilot Magalhães: “The ship turns 180 degrees towards the Lagoon. It is a very complicated maneuver because the vessel is in one direction, at five knots today, and we have to change its direction. It’s not easy.”

The Peruvian captain Marin Camasca, a frequent visitor to the ZP, praises the pilots’ work: “So far, everyone who climbed aboard has shown good knowledge of the pilotage activity, and we feel safe. We know that this experience is important and allows us to maneuver in both the Lagoon and channels and when ship-handling in the port.

The pilot station has eight qualified pilots and operational bases (watchtowers) both in Rio Grande and Porto Alegre, as well as two pilot boats in each city. Depending on conditions, the pilot boat takes two hours to board the pilot at Santa Clara Terminal. There are ten crew members in addition to outsourced drivers who drive pilots between the municipalities when there is no other ship immediately available to carry them to the capital.

The activity is set to working with the maritime and port authorities in order to enable night navigation in the channel outside the Lagoon. To do so, simulations will be made in the Brazilian Pilotage

pilotage in Brazil

photo: Gustavo Stephan

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BARGE CROSSING, A COMMON SIGHT IN THE REGION

Institute in Brasilia, with ships of less than 200 meters. The measure can save seven hours or more on the voyages. And dredging of Portos RS is still expected throughout the waterway.

The pilots undertake around 30 tasks a month. In the first six months, according to Portos RS, the capital’s public dock accounted for 375,697 tons of freight, 217,186 inputs of which are for

fertilizer production, 53,003 wheat, 47,783 barley, 34,774 bovine tallow, 22,732 salt and 219 of general cargo.

Tergasul shifted 43,480 tons of gas by May, according to Brazil’s national agency for waterway transportation (Antaq). On the other hand, Santa Clara terminal shifted 131,761 tons of chemicals in the same period. Both are private-use terminals (TUPs).

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photos: Gustavo Stephan

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PILOT BOAT AND THE STELLAR LADY RUDDER

THE SHIP STELLAR LADY LEAVING PORTO ALEGRE

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PASSING THROUGH A NARROW CHANNEL IN THE SOUTHERN PART

photo: Gustavo Stephan

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Panama hosts the Latin American Pilots’ Forum photo: Didier Magallón

Brazilian delegation consisted of five pilots, including the president Ricardo Falcão, who gave two presentations

THE FORUM’S OPENING CEREMONY

From September 25th through to 29th, Panama hosted the XI Latin American Pilots’ Forum. The event attracted professionals from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Panama, Peru and Uruguay, in addition to guests from outside the region. The Brazilian delegation comprised the pilots João Bosco (Rio Grande-RS), Laviera Laurino and Paulo Ferraz (Itajaí-SC), Porthos Lima (Rio de Janeiro-RJ) and Ricardo Falcão (East Amazon Basin), president of Brazil Pilotage and vice-president of the International Maritime Pilots’ Association (IMPA). He introduced the Brazil Pilotage Institute and its maneuvering simulation center, as well as the actions connecting the profession to environmental, social and governance pillars (ESG).

Other topics addressed were IMPA’s role facing the pilotage challenges; the work of the member states in the International Maritime Organization (IMO); the service organizations in each country; international and domestic regulation; the impacts of climate change on operations; case studies; use of navigation technologies; personal protection equipment; and the pilot’s safety in boarding and disembarkation.

After a welcome cocktail on the first day, IMPA president Simon Pelletier (Canada), opened the event on September 26th, taking stock of the year of the institution’s performance.

Boris Moreno, Operations vice-president of the Panama Canal Authority, spoke of the working measures to keep the ships’ draft competitive in the dry season, aggravated by the El Niño phenomenon. They included reusing the water by transferring it between the canal’s locks, in order to raise and lower vessels during their passage. Despite the efforts, the largest container ships to sail through the canal needed to unload part of the cargo (1,400 TEUs - twenty-foot equivalent) in the Pacific and transport it overland to another port in the Atlantic.

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abilities, and is required for the vessels with more than 500 gross tonnage, or less when carrying dangerous loads.

Pilot Pablo Pineda, from Argentina, addressed the losses caused by the regulatory instability in the country compared to its neighbor Uruguay. Both use the River Plate, by which 90% of Argentinean exports are carried. While in Argentina the maritime agency chooses the pilot company to attend the ship, in Uruguay there is a single and rotating shift service with a limited number of pilots, as IMO recommends.

“We all know that we need to work in a non-competitive system", said Pineda.

IMPA PRESIDENT SIMON PELLETIER OPENED THE EVENT

“Our hydrographers began to see unprecedented conditions. We began to adopt measures as soon as possible. The level of the lakes that irrigate the locks began to drop quickly in February.

The January-September accumulated average rainfall shows that this was the fourth driest period in 74 years. It is essential to find a balance between the population’s need for water consumption and use in the canal”, stressed.

On the technological panel, pilot Juan Molino and engineer Alejandro Caballero, from Panama, explained about adopting the portable pilot unit (PPU) fixed to ships. Since October, this tool, which makes navigation more accurate, is now mandatory for vessels of at least 33.22 meters in breadth. One of the arguments of the Panama Canal Authority for the requirement is that the so-called non-portable piloting unit waives its setting during the ship’s movement, contrary to the portable unit.

Ricardo Falcão, president of Brazil Pilotage, describes the progress of the Brazil Pilotage Institute and its simulations center after almost two years in operation. The space has just gained a second full-mission simulator from Technomar Engenharia, the only one developed in the Southern Hemisphere certified by DNV. The equipment will be used in the Pilots’ Refresher Course (ATPR).

photos: Didier Magallón

Next, ambassador Luis Bernal talked about his position as permanent representative of Panama in IMO: “We will continue hand-in-hand with IMPA to ensure the safety of pilots and our people at sea. We ask the other pilot associations as members of IMPA to work together with their delegations or permanent missions in IMO, in order to support IMPA or cooperate in creating regulations that reinforce safety when they perform their tasks.

In the afternoon, Chilean pilot Manuel Pinochet shared the lessons learned with the stranding of the bulk carrier Sumatra, in 2018, in the English Narrows region north of Port Eden. Maneuvering trials in the Winplotter Pilot shipping electronic system allowed safer managing of the course in the canal, which has two sharp bends.

Pilotage in the country is controlled by the Directorate-General of Maritime Territory and the national Merchant Navy.

Pilot José Pérez Lorente addressed the pilotage activity in Spain, and said that the country follows the private model, like Brazil.

The 247 pilots (including five women) are distributed around 50 corporations and are required to be members of the National Official College of Port Pilots. The service is controlled by the maritime and port administrations, each with their specific

RICARDO FALCÃO HANDS A THANK YOU PLAQUE TO ALVARO MORENO

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“We have also hosted visits from major authorities and institutions, and done live broadcasts of public interest, fulfilling the mission of spreading and strengthening pilotage in society.

In the following presentation, Falcão described in detail how Brazilian pilotage is closely connected to the three ESG pillars (see article on page 26). At the end, he recalled that technology also has implications in the social area.

The forum’s third day was marked by technical visits. The first was to the ruins of San Lorenzo, at the entrance to the River Chagres, which in the past connected the Caribbean to Panama City. Later, the delegates visited the Agua Clara Visitor in the city of Colón, site of the locks of the new Panama Canal in the Atlantic, built for larger ships (New Panamax).

In the morning of the fourth day, the visit was to the Maneuver Training Center with Scale Model ships, linked to the Panama Canal Authority. The site was delivered in 2015 for adapting pilots to the maneuvers of the new canal, inaugurated the following year. It is one of the seven in the world. Later, it was open for training foreigners and the Brazilians were pioneers, taking part in the training in 2018.

The series of talks was restored in the afternoon. IMPA secretarygeneral Matthew Williams (UK) informed about the progress in IMO of the revision of the rules on pilot transfer devices. He also addressed IMPA’s follow-up on autonomous ships, decarbonization and diversity in the maritime industry.

The irregularities found when boarding and disembarking were one of the topics by Panama pilot Irving Chiquilani, while the Panamanian pilots Juan Molino and Rafael Domínguez focused on the importance of pilots wearing a lifejacket with proper resources and a hardhat.

“When we examine safety in boarding, it is not just the correct use of the ladders. We also include the boarding and disembarkation procedures, training operational staff, the pilot’s condition and correct use of the personal protection equipment”, Chiquilani pointed out.

Uruguayan pilot Fernando Adaime ended the day with a talk about what to consider when deciding how to safely operate a pilot boat.

He mentioned operational instructions used as a guide to prevent dangerous situations in adverse weather and sea conditions.

The last day of the event was for IMPA members only. National delegations had the opportunity to report internal challenges, such

photo: Rodrigo March

The old canal is also simulated in one of the lakes, connected by a canal. There, everything happens five times faster, contributing to enhance the skill in ship-handling, shorter decision making and perception of the hydrodynamic forces. There are models of a container ship, bulk carrier, oil tanker and gas carrier. Inside a pilot

gives orders to the wheel and engine, and another performs them.

The azimuth tugs, however, are operated by remote control.

PILOT JOÃO BOSCO, SEATED, DURING TRAINING WITH SCALE MODEL

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LAVIERA LAURINO, PAULO FERRAZ, JOÃO BOSCO, RICARDO FALCÃO & PORTHOS LIMA, ON THE PANAMA CANAL

as that of Peru, which had more than 20 problems, including the unfair distribution of maneuvers among the pilots, in detriment to maintaining the qualification, and attempting to reduce access requirements for the profession, such as English proficiency. The Chilean delegation pointed out similar commercial pressures for more flexible safety regulations, mentioning a latent threat to tender the pilotage service.

“No country is the same, but we can exchange experiences”, noted the senior IMP vice-president, pilot Alvaro Moreno (Panama).

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LAVIERA LAURINO, PAULO FERRAZ, PORTHOS LIMA & JOÃO BOSCO

IMPA doctrine against commercial dispute between pilots, which affects the quality of service and navigation safety.

The 11th Latin American Pilots’ Forum was sponsored by the companies Trelleborg, Gold Híades Consulting, the Brazilian start-up Navigandi, North River and Lina Arango Seguros. The event was created in 2004, during the 17th IMPA Congress in Instanbul, and occurs every two years. The next edition is planned to happen in Peru.

photos: Rodrigo March

He closed the meeting by collecting suggestions for the final statement of the Forum. Again, the delegates agreed with the

Além de projetos visando à segurança do prático, Diretoria Técnica retoma ATPR atualizado e planeja retorno do curso para operadores em Brasília NAVIGANDO STARTUP INTRODUCED THE BRAZILIAN PPU

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About the First Port Planning Seminar in Rio de Janeiro Speakers talk about the recommendations for preparing designs or altering facilities, in addition to case studies More than 200 people, including the online public, visited the First Port Planning Seminar hosted in September in Rio de Janeiro

by Brazil Pilotage, and sponsored by Hidromares, TechGeo and Wilson Sons. The event addressed the main international recommendations for port designs or altering facilities, together in the book Port Planning – nautical access recommendations.

The book has now an English translation and is available for free on our website.

Pilot Marcio Fausto, technical director of Brazil Pilotage, gave the introduction, recalling that the seminar will be based on the premises in the book:

photo: Gustavo Stephan

“In the preface, Admiral Lima Filho, then the president of the Maritime Court, who today is director of Antaq, argued that ‘Brazil is impracticable without the sea’. Making our country competitive is a matter of survival. However, finding guilty parties for the so-called Custo Brasil (Brazil Cost) very often simplifies extremely complex logistic, operational and technical issues, especially in seagoing transportation. Less often we see praise be given to the work and efforts of those who facilitate and cut costs of using our infrastructure and our access channels, despite the existing bottlenecks and challenges. With every extra centimeter of draft, with every extra mooring berth, every dredging, with every larger ship that enters a port and with each seminar like this one, we are enabling Brazil.”

TECHNICAL DIRECTOR MARCIO FAUSTO, AND DIRECTOR OF ANTAQ, ADMIRAL LIMA FILHO

Vice-Admiral Wilson Pereira de Lima Filho, director of the Brazilian National Waterway Transportation Agency (Antaq), opened the event: “When I wrote the book’s preface I perceived its importance, at a moment when efficiency and effectiveness of the binome ship-port are essential to the country’s growth. In 2017, I was Director of Ports and Coasts and everyone on the quayside aspired to internalize the standards of the World Association for Waterborne Transport Infrastructure (Pianc), mainly in planning port operations. For various reasons, these standards were not consolidated by the Brazilian Association of Technical Standards (ABNT), but the authors transformed the work into this book as a guide. Ships increase in size and ports remain the same. We must therefore do in-depth analyses to increase the breadth and overall length (LOA) of the vessels. The book helps us to undertake these studies with more technique.”

One of the book’s premises is that all designs, for new facilities, operational parameters or operations, need to be simulated prior to the participation of all stakeholders, including the essential presence of local pilots. This was the topic of the first panel "Access routes to port facilities".

“Our infrastructure has increased less than the ships. Santos Port, for example, has expanded its horizontal dimension one and a half times in the last 50 years, in terms of width and depth. Ships have increased in size three times in the same period. There is pressure on the infrastructure that is settled with more engineering and technological resources. Both Pianc and the other international standards, as well as this book, appreciate that engineering, nautical knowhow and risk analysis must go together. And a maneuver simulator integrates the three”, explained professor Eduardo Tannuri, coordinator of the São Paulo University Tanque de Provas Numérico (TPN-USP), ship maneuvering simulation center, who provided examples of ports and operations which were enabled with safety, even outside Pianc limits, supported by simulations and studies.

Next, professor Daniel Vieira (TPN-USP) discussed the factors affecting the detailed vertical designs of access channels – aimed

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photos: Gustavo Stephan

to determine dredging depth, safe maximum draft and operating window, as well as instructing maximum speeds – and the aspects analyzed in assessing existing mooring berths and the layout of new berths.

Rodrigo Barrera (TPN-USP), in turn, spoke about tug modeling in maneuver simulation and the complementary importance of the monitoring systems inside the simulator, such as the portable pilot unit (PPU) software, which could contribute to distance perception and in phases of briefing, debriefing and risk analysis.

PAINEL/PANEL 1: DANIEL VIEIRA, EDUARDO TANNURI, MARCIO FAUSTO & RODRIGO BARRERA

PAINEL/PANEL 2: FRANCISCO ROZENDO, JOSÉ MARIO CALIXTO, MARCIO FAUSTO, SERGIO SPHAIER & ERNESTO COUTINHO

In the second panel on "Shallow-water navigation, dredging and sea bed", professors Sergio Sphaier (UFRJ) and Ernesto Coutinho (Fundação Homem do Mar) shared the talk regarding the effects of shallow water on ship maneuverability, while Francisco Rozendo (Vale) demonstrated factors considered in the technical specification and pricing of maintenance dredging, as tolerance for uncertainties.

The panel was mediated by professor José Mario Calixto (Fundação Homem do Mar).

In the afternoon, the first speaker of the third panel "Risk analysis in port planning", was professor Marcelo Martins, from the USP Risk Analysis, Assessment and Management Laboratory (LabRisco).

He explained the basic concepts for risk analysis (hazard, accident and risk), the laboratory methodology and the steps taken for a preliminary analysis.

Professor Marcos Maturana (LabRisco) stressed that non-tolerable events are simulated, as well as those that give rise to more heated discussions or have high severity. He raised the case of maneuvers with oil tankers in Sepetiba Bay, in which mitigation and contingency measures were proposed for hazardous adverse wind conditions. Then pilot Renato Kopezynski focused on accident prevention and mitigation of a ship with a gantry crane. Pilot Siegberto Schenk, the panel’s mediator, pointed out the need for post-risk analysis monitoring.

PAINEL/PANEL 3: MARCIO FAUSTO, SIEGBERTO SCHENK, MARCELO MARTINS, MARCOS MATURANA & RENATO KOPEZYNSKI

In the last panel, "Ship maneuver and wave movement ", Vinicius Vaghetti (Technomar Engenharia) showed two cases of simulatoruse for training. The company has 11 items of TMS equipment in Brazil, the only item developed in the Southern Hemisphere certified by DNV. One of them operates in the Brazil Pilotage Institute in Brasilia, which also has another simulator in partnership with TPN-USP. Felipe Ruggeri (Argonáutica Engenharia) concentrated on vessel movement in waves and dynamic under keel clearance, a relevant issue considering that many of the ports and terminals in Brazil have open access channels and restricted shipping clearance.

PAINEL/PANEL 4: VINICIUS VAGHETTI, EDSON MESQUITA, MARCIO FAUSTO & FELIPE RUGGERI

Lastly, professor Edson Mesquita (Brazilian Navy) closed the talk cycle with the topic “Ship maneuvering in the 21st century”. He recalled that, just like each ship behaves in a different way upon

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waves, the same occurs in its maneuverability, since each vessel has its own DNA, and each port has a specific fingerprint: “Ships vary. That is why the pilot plays a key role. As in aviation, the pilot not only flies a Boeing, but has to operate different types of planes at different airports.”

Salgueirinho, director of the Brazilian Navy Ports and Coasts; vice-admiral Paulo Cesar Dias de Lima, president of the Brazilian Hydrography Society (SBHidro); vice-admiral Luiz Octávio Barros Coutinho, special procurator for the Brazilian Navy; vice-admiral Ralph Dias da Silveira Costa, president of the Maritime Court; rear admiral José Luiz Ribeiro Filho and rear admiral Sergio Gago Guida (DPC); and rear admiral Carlos Augusto Chaves Leal Silva (SBHidro).

Pilot Ricardo Falcão, president of Brazil Pilotage, closed the seminar: “When I joined the Merchant Navy in 1994, it was a very different reality. Professors Mesquita and Jofre inaugurated the first simulator in Ciaga (Almirante Graça Aranha Training Center), it was a novelty.

Several concepts that we have seen here were experimental, and the whole discussion was in a very early stage. As we noted in professor Tannuri’s talk, the size of the ships has grown far beyond that of our ports. The challenge has increased. But today we have a country with an established standard, a Maritime Authority regularly attending the International Maritime Organization (IMO) and addressing the latest in international sea-borne trade. We are referring to more than 70,000 maneuvers a year in Brazilian waters without mention of serious accidents. This is the responsibility of public authorities with society. Perhaps we have little investment in infrastructure, but we do have a worldwide technical language that does not let Brazil fall behind any other nation. The result of this whole discussion is the best for our country.”

PRESIDENT RICARDO FALCÃO CLOSED THE EVENT

photos: Gustavo Stephan

The First Port Planning Seminar was attended by a number of authorities, among them vice-admiral Sergio Renato Berna

The full recording is on the Praticagem do Brasil YouTube channel, in the Live section.

SEMINAR GATHERED MORE THAN 200 DELEGATES IN RIO DE JANEIRO

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Pilots Adonis dos Santos and Gustavo Martins represent pilotage at the Brazilian Hydrography Symposium Pilots Adonis dos Santos and Gustavo Martins were speakers at the Brazilian Hydrography Symposium – an event hosted by the Brazilian Hydrography Society (SBHidro) at the Naval Club (RJ), on September 11th and 12th –, participating in the panels on the importance of hydrography for inland and offshore navigation, respectively.

Adonis dos Santos is a pilot in the East Amazon Basin, president of the Support and Logistics Cooperative for Pilots in the Pilotage Zone 1 (Unipilot) and financial director of the National Pilots’ Federation (Fenapraticos). He explained how pilotage contributes to overcome the hydrographic challenges in a region where river beds are constantly changing, especially that of the Amazon River.

This is because the large volume of water causes erosion along the banks, resulting in changes in the course and depths of the access channel.

In addition to collaborating in river depth sounding (bathymetry), the pilot station is constantly exchanging data on major changes in the channel, always keeping up to date. After all, as Adonis dos Santos pointed out, every day six to 12 ships enter the pilotage zone with pilots onboard, with constant exchange of information: “Pilotage is based on hydrography. And in practical terms, we’re solving the problems that nature offers us. We’ve been very successful and for years we’ve had no record of running aground with a pilot guiding the vessel."

They participated in the panels on the importance of the subject for in-land and offshore navigation Martins is a pilot in Paraná, Fenapraticos president and honorary hydrographer for the Brazilian Navy, awarded in 2019 for his efforts in Brazilian hydrography.

His other suggestions were as follows: More precision in hydrographic surveys and greater speed in processing and disseminating data; more accurate models for identifying sediment bed formation and shift; more widespread use of the dynamic keel system; better weather forecast models; wider coverage of environmental sensors by port authorities; better meteorological tide prediction models; increased virtual buoy use; adoption of articulated buoys; wider Differential Global Positioning System (DGPS) coverage; in addition to Vessel Traffic Service (VTS) e Local Port Service (LPS) implementing, also by the port authorities.

“The National Waterway Transportation Agency (Antaq) could officially make this mandatory. We should not restrict hydrography to the Brazilian Navy. Hydrography is for everyone”, he argued.

Brazil Pilotage was one of the sponsors of the Brazilian Hydrography Symposium. The event brought together a number of authorities in the area, namely Vice Admiral Carlos André Coronha Macedo, director of Hydrography and Navigation (DHN) of the Brazilian Navy; Vice Admiral Antonio Fernando Garcez Faria, member of the UN Commission of the Limits of the Continental Shelf (CLCS); Rear Admiral Marcos Lourenço de Almeida, president of the International Association of Marine Aids to Navigation and Lighthouse Authorities (IALA); and Vice Admiral Wilson Pereira de Lima Filho, director of Antaq.

ADONIS DOS SANTOS

GUSTAVO MARTINS

photo: Arionor Souza

photo: Rodrigo March

Gustavo Martins, in turn, offered suggestions for hydrography improvements from the pilotage viewpoint, including that organized ports be equipped with hydrographs:

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Pilotage: ESG beyond rhetoric ESG discussions on environment, society and governance have increased in size in the maritime and port sector. While sustainability is a broader agenda in society, ESG is still restricted to bubbles as the private sector. It is a concept focused on business risks, external pressure and market access, and involves practices and metrics aimed at the impacts of corporate operations. This is why it has come to stay. Unlike when sustainability echoed in the media, when many practiced greenwashing – this time it no longer seems sustainable. The market and public are aware and will demand.

Glaucia Terreo, who was at the head of Global Reporting Initiative (GRI Brazil) activities for 15 years, disseminating GRI standards in ESG reports, recalls that one of the embryos of this story was the disaster with the tanker Exxon Valdez in Alaska in 1989. With no pilot onboard, the vessel ran aground, ripped the bottom out to cause a 38,000-cubic meter oil spill. The environmental damage still remains until this day. Three months before the disaster, pilotage had become optional in that region due to economic pressure. Exxon traded a maneuver worth USD 5,000 for losses of USD 7 billion.

US investors who lost money at the time were jointly responsible and concluded that it was necessary to scrutinize not only financial figures but also corporate socioenvironmental policies when taking investment decisions. That was the year when a group of them, together with environmentalists, founded the Ceres NGO in order to incorporate ESG to business.

Pilotage is also a private activity and closely connected to the three pillars of ESG, starting with the environment. After all, the pilots go aboard to steer the ship safely and protect society from such accidents as that of the Exxon Valdez.

Each vessel carries tons of fuel for its own consumption and very often pollutant freight, including oil. As we can see, a major accident has terrible consequences, with offshore and river pollution, and the resulting social impact. In many areas affected by port operations, not only can such accidents have consequences on leisure, tourism and economy, but the population also eats, drinks and guarantees their livelihood from these waters.

We had a sample of this in 2019, when an offshore oil spill reached the beaches in Northeast Brazil. The pilot therefore represents the State and goes on board to protect us. It is no coincidence that the service is essential under federal law.

Another environmental aspect relates to the efficiency that the service adds to the system. See the example of the São Paulo

Pilot Station that undertakes simultaneous tasks and two-way traffic in previously restricted stretches. This was possible after a detailed study of the timing of each maneuver. Without this integration that has reduced the terminals’ idle time, imagine if a large ship were to wait offshore emitting tons of carbon every hour.

The investments made by the pilotage activity also contribute to the environment. This is the case of the dynamic bottom system implemented in five ports and the Amazon Basin. Based on the processing of data such as tide height and water density, technology permits a higher volume of freight carried by a ship, reducing the number of voyages and emissions.

Brazil Pilotage, however, transcends its mission. In each zone where it operates, its companies or pilots individually support impactful social causes. During the pandemic, the profession did not shy away and donated ten million Brazilian Reais nationwide to procure food baskets and inputs, and hospital equipment. In February, with the devastating rainstorm across the Northern São Paulo coast, São Paulo Pilotage and business sectors from the Santos Plain donated six tons of food, water, toiletries and cleaning products to the victims.

It is also worth mentioning that the pilot boats, their crew and the entire structure involved in the service are constantly available, helping the Brazilian Navy to provide relief and humanitarian aid.

Another action is the partnership in distributing life jackets to riverside dwellers, as well as providing motor shaft protectors against scalp avulsion of Amazon women (long-hair entrapment in motors).

All this is normally performed by the pilots − however, as part of society, the profession has offered an extra quota developing a pilot project of sustainability in Bahia Pilotage, described below. The deliveries of this project include a socioenvironmental map of the area protected by the pilots’ work, a climate risk forecast for the next 30 years and the installation of a solar energy system in an institution for underprivileged children.

A worthwhile project for pilotage companies to adopt is the inventory of the greenhouse gas emissions. The main method used in the corporate world for their calculations is The Greenhouse Gas Protocol (GHG Protocol), which facilitates reporting the data from other platforms.

According to consultant Ricardo Dinato, who worked on the 2012-2020 GHG Protocol Brazilian program, this diagnosis is the first step to be taken by an organization toward a low-carbon economy. The second step, he said, is to set an emission reduction

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target and then a decarbonization plan in order to achieve the target. Included in the scope of emission sources are, for example, motorboats and outsourced transportation, generators, canteen ovens, air-conditioning equipment, electricity consumption, waste generation, business air and land travel, and commuting.

The future of our planet and the next generations depends on us.

We must all give our share of contributing to reducing global warming and its effects, which above all impact the less fortunate.

Fora in which pilots have participated contribute to achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), internalizing the ESG culture in the maritime and port sector.

In March, at an event of the Ports and Coasts Directorate, Ilques Barbosa, former Commander of the Navy, Admiral of the Fleet, reminded us of another key issue. We cannot forget people. In a rapidly advancing technological scenario, we must include and build the capacity of the population for the new job market. The Admiral clearly warned that we need to leave behind the rhetoric and use ESG as a motor for sustainable and inclusive economic growth. It is there in SDG 8 of the 2030 Agenda.

Rodrigo March is a journalist, MBA ESG Management from PUC-Rio university, MBA Marketing from FGV and Public Policies specialist from Rio de Janeiro University Research Institute (Iuperj).

photos: Gustavo Stephan

Shipping is responsible for 2.2% of carbon emissions. It seems little but is equal to the pollution of countries such as France and Canada. The shipping industry has been busy adapting its fleet, as we see in our ports. However, there is still a lot to do to adapt vessels, port infrastructures and to leverage the green fuel supply chain. The International Maritime Organization (IMO) set the target to reduce greenhouse gas emissions at 20%-30% by 2030, and 70%-80% by 2040; achieving decarbonization by around 2050.

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SOME EXAMPLES OF PROTECTED LOCAL FLORA AND FAUNA IN PILOTAGE ZONES

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sustentabilidade

Socioenvironmental project is implemented in Bahia Pilotage Zone Strategic mapping, climate hazard report and solar energy system were the focus of the specialized consultant work The consulting firm ElementalPact, contracted by Brazil Pilotage, completed a socioenvironmental pilot project in the Pilotage Zone 12 (Bahia). The company delivered three items: mapping of the area protected by the pilots’ work, a climate risk report to 2060 and the installation of a solar power system in an institution that cares for underprivileged children.

They then compared the historic base of several global climate models with the ERA 5, concluding that two of them were a representation of the local climatology. The assessed models were those of the Sixth Phase of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP6), used in the analyses of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

The inventory of the heritage protected by the pilotage when preventing accidents with ships and the related pollution was part of the researchers’ field work. Bahia has the country’s longest coastline, with 932 kilometers and around 5.5 million coastal inhabitants. There are several ethnocultural communities getting their living from the sea, concentrating on fishing, extractivism and directly related to the Atlantic Rainforest.

In the second stage, the two most representative models had their biases corrected and were regionalized, increasing the representation capacity of the historic series and spatial resolution. Therefore, the Meteorological Research Institute Earth System Model version 2 (MRI-ESM2-0) was adopted to forecast the climate trends in the third stage.

Todos os Santos Bay is one of the most important marine ecosystems in Brazil and an Environmental Protection Area (APA).

It includes more than 30 berthing and unberthing points, in addition to a large number of riverside and coastal locations, with shellfish gatherers and quilombola communities (former Afro-Brazilian slave settlements) (15). In their vicinity the inhabitants of 22 municipalities depend on safe port operations.

The results of the simulations for Salvador and Ilhéus were divided into three current climate periods (1980-2014, most recent CMIP6 base), near future (2021-2040) and distant future (2041-2060). The parameters considered relevant to the pilotage profession were analyzed: temperature and relative air humidity, rainfall, wind force, wave height, average sea level and ocean current intensity.

For future periods, the scenario of high greenhouse gas emission was adopted.

In Aratu Bay and its islands there are vast mangrove areas, responsible for the livelihood of a significant portion of the local population. In addition to the Todos os Santos Bay APA another five conservation units are nearby.

The observed trends showed a constant rise in temperature over recent decades, which will continue in the near and distant futures.

In relation to wind, a general increase was noted in the average and maximum force over time, especially in the forthcoming years.

The map also shows another region south of Salvador to Ilhéus, which is inhabited by traditional dwellers and communities in direct relation to the sea. The economy of the municipalities in this stretch is based on fishing and marine extractivism.

With regard to waves, the average and maximum height showed an upward trend in the current period along the Bahian coast. In the estimate for the near and distant future, there was a variation according to each region, with some areas having a neutral trend or even a drop in wave height.

CLIMATE FORECAST The study of climate risks involved three stages. In the first stage, the researchers compared public data of weather stations and buoys available in the region based on the European Centre for Mid-Range Weather Forecasts (ERA 5), which has proven to be a good reference.

Moreover, the results projected a drop in the height of the average sea level along the coast at all periods, while the average surface ocean current intensity had a rise in the present climate, a drop in the near future and resumed increase in the distant future.

“Data show that the number of days when the Brazilian Navy’s criteria are met for strong winds, rough sea and restricted visibility

sustentabilidade

period is 344 tons less of CO² in the atmosphere or equivalent to 151 planted trees.

photo: Divulgação

oscillates according to the different times and places. There are slight variations between the current and near future climate, and more significant differences forecast in the distant future. The results emphasize the importance of considering the climate factors when making decisions on maritime traffic but, in general, Bahia will continue with excellent conditions both for shipping and receiving investments. The climate is good for any kind of facility”, highlights consultant Fabio Azevedo, who has a team of six more members.

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Social investment In the social area, ElementalPact chose Sister Benedita Camurugi’s Shelter [Abrigo Lar Irmã Benedita Camurugi] to install the solar energy system in Salvador’s Cidade Nova unit. This institution that cares for vulnerable minors also has a base in the municipality of Simões Filho. The monthly saving in the account is BRL 1,329 (75%). Should there be any extra credits, they could be used to das tendências parâmetros climáticos ao longo dos períodos a BENEDITA ZP-12 em reduceResumo the Simões Filho account. Thedos environmental impact for the SOLAR PANELS INSTALLEDpara IN SISTER CAMURUGI'S SHELTER

Salvador Resumo das tendências dos parâmetros climáticos ao longo dos períodos para a ZP-12 em Climate Parameter Current Climate Near Future Distant Future Salvador SUMMARY OF CLIMATE PARAMETER TRENDS OVER THE PERIODS FOR ZP-12 IN SALVADOR Sign Value Sign Value Climate Parameter Current Climate Near Future Air temperature (oC) rise + 0.079 rise + 0.266 Relative humidity (%) drop -Value 0.051 drop -Value 0.467 Sign Sign o Rainfall (mm) ( C) drop nil Air temperature rise +- 0.018 0.079 rise + 0.266 Average wind force (knots) rise +- 0.051 0.087 rise +- 0.467 0.407 Relative humidity (%) drop drop Maximum wind force (knots) rise +- 0.018 0.092 rise + 0.545 Rainfall (mm) drop nil Average wave height(knots) (m) rise + 0.006 nil wind force 0.087 rise + 0.407 Maximum wave height(knots) (m) rise + 0.007 nil wind force 0.092 rise + 0.545 Average sea level (cm) drop 0.002 nil wave height (m) rise + 0.006 Average current velocity(m) (m/s) rise + 0.001 nil Maximum wave height 0.007 Clima Presente: a 2014; Futuro Distante: 2041 a 2060;nil Valor do sinal por Average sea1980 level (cm)Futuro Próximo: 2021 a 2040; drop - 0.002 - década.

Average current velocity (m/s) rise + 0.001 nil Clima Presente: 1980 a 2014; Futuro Próximo: 2021 a 2040; Futuro Distante: 2041 a 2060; Valor do sinal por década.

Sign Value Distant Future rise + 0.102 rise +Value 0.112 Sign drop rise +- 0.001 0.102 rise + 0.133 0.112 rise +- 0.001 0.108 drop nil rise + 0.133 nil rise + 0.108 nil nil nil nil -

Current climate: 1980-2014; Near Future`; 2021=2040; Distant Future 2051-2060. Ten-year sign value.

Resumo das tendências dos parâmetros climá[cos ao longo dos períodos para a ZP-12 em Ilhéus SUMMARY OF CLIMATE PARAMETER TRENDS OVER THE PERIODS FOR ZP-12 IN ILHÉUS Resumo das tendências dos parâmetros climá[cos ao longo dos períodos para a ZP-12 em Climate Parameter Current Climate Near Future Distant Future Ilhéus Sign Value Sign Value Sign Value Climate Parameter Current Climate Near Future Distant Future Air temperature (oC) rise + 0.073 rise + 0.236 rise + 0.106 Relative humidity (%) nil drop -Value 0.181 rise +Value 0.100 Sign Value Sign Sign Rainfall (mm) (oC) drop nil drop Air temperature rise +- 0.020 0.073 rise + 0.236 rise Average wind force (knots) rise + 0.074 rise +- 0.181 0.313 nil Relative humidity (%) nil drop rise Maximum wind force (knots) rise 0.55 rise + 0.389 nil Rainfall (mm) drop -+0.020 nil drop Average wave height(knots) (m) nil nil nil wind force rise + 0.074 rise + 0.313 Maximum wave height(knots) (m) nil nil nil wind force rise + 0.55 rise + 0.389 Average sea level (cm)(m) drop - 0.002 nil nil wave height nil Average current velocity (m/s) nil drop 0.006 nil Maximum wave height (m) nil Clima Presente: 1980 a 2014; Futuro Próximo: 2021 a 2040; Futuro Distante: 2041 a 2060; Valor do sinal detectado por década.

Average sea level (cm) Near Future; 2021-2040; drop - 0.002 nil Current climate: 1980-2014; Distant Future 2051-2060.nil Detected ten-year sign value.

Average current velocity (m/s) nil drop - 0.006 nil Clima Presente: 1980 a 2014; Futuro Próximo: 2021 a 2040; Futuro Distante: 2041 a 2060; Valor do sinal detectado por década.

+- 0.003 0.106 + 0.100 - 0.003 -

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debate

photo: Gustavo Stephan

Distraction in the palm of the hand International publications discuss the role played by mobile phones in accidents.

Some cases have been registered in Brazil

Does using a mobile phone while maneuvering distract the pilot’s situational awareness? Does it seem obvious or is it only a drawback when the phone is being used for personal reasons?

Or does it not interfere, regardless of the purpose, if the device is used at moments with little threats to navigation?

Rumos Práticos brings two texts on the topic, one published in the Professional Mariner and the other in Seaways. Both start with the stranding of the container vessel Ever Forward, in March 2022 in the USA. The Coastguard concluded how accidents are caused in failing to maintain the situational conscience and attention during navigation and the inadequate management of the bridge resources (https://tinyurl.com/reportus13). Pilot 1 spent around 61 minutes on phone calls during the 126 minutes sailing until it ran aground.

It was not the first accident caused by distraction on the mobile, either by the pilot or the ship’s officer. Seaways actually mentions another three cases. And Rumos Práticos recalls two more recent

incidents. In 2020, a bulk carrier ran aground causing an oil spill in the Mauritius Islands. One of the reasons was that the second officer in charge was talking to his family on the phone while the vessel approached a coral reef. In 2022 in the USA, a bulk carrier and an offshore support vessel collided without causing injury or environmental damage, but with a loss of USD 12.3 million to both ships. The US federal agency National Transportation Safety Board pointed to the likely causes: the supply boat captain’s distractions when talking on his mobile, and the second bulk carrier officer who was performing tasks not related to navigation during the collision.

In Brazil, since 2009, there have been six accidents filed in the Maritime Court addressing the use of mobiles during the maneuvers in pilotage zones.

After all, how to balance the use of the device, which is also a support tool to the pilot’s work on board? The following articles lead us to such a reflection.

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U.S. Coast Guard

Signals Maryland authorities clarify phone policy after Ever Forward grounding

By Rob Laymon

THE MARYLAND BOARD OF PILOTS HAS UPDATED ITS POLICY ON CELL PHONE USE FOLLOWING THE EVER FORWARD GROUNDING LAST YEAR

The pilot fiddled with his cell phone even as the big ship missed the turn. The third officer sang out their compass course as a clue they were going wrong. Others on the bridge did likewise as the tension mounted. The pilot acknowledged their direction and continued work with his phone.

Thus, the 1,095-foot container-ship Ever Forward went aground near Craighill Channel in the Chesapeake Bay on March 13, 2022, 121 minutes out of the Seagirt Marine Terminal in Baltimore and still many miles from its destination, Norfolk, Virginia.

The Maryland Board of Pilots has since issued an updated policy on the use of cell phones among pilots while on duty in Maryland waters. The guidance takes its place alongside others in the country restricting cell phone use to only what is necessary to pilot the ship.

“It makes clear and specific guidance about mobile phone usage,” said Joseph E. Farren, chief strategy officer at the Maryland Department of Labor. “The board was deliberate and wanted to make sure that legitimate and necessary uses were still available

to the pilot. But certainly, any kind of personal usage is strictly forbidden.”

The U.S. Coast Guard report found the causes to be inattention and lack of situational awareness on the part of the pilot, partially caused by cell phone use. The pilot had been talking on the cell phone for more than 61 of the 121 minutes the ship been underway from Baltimore. Just before the grounding he was composing a text on his phone, taking a screen shot of his Personal Piloting Unit, according to the report.

Ever Forward remained grounded for more than a month on a bottom of mud and shell. Only on the third try, after using barges, dredges, a fleet of tugboats and a floating crane, did the ship come off on April 17, 2022. This was after cranes off-loaded around 500 containers over several days and dredges brought up more than 100,000 cubic yards of material from around the ship.

“The Maryland board felt the need to emphasize what the Coast Guard says,” Clay Diamond, executive director and general counsel for the American Pilots Association (APA), said of the change.

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“If a pilot is using a cell phone it should only be for navigational, operational, maritime safety, national security or other professional purposes. And even then, it should be kept to an absolute minimum.”

The pilot, Capt. Steven Germac, has been suspended from piloting operations, and has moved for a hearing. He has not piloted a commercial vessel since the incident.

“Distracted operations continue to be an issue of importance,” Kurt Fredrickson, spokesman for the Coast Guard, said in an email. “It is the responsibility of all mariners to ensure a robust safety culture that supports and communicates a safe bridge navigation watch and protects the safety of life at sea.”

The ship returned to the Seagirt Marine Terminal on April 22 to pick up its offloaded containers and be inspected. The Hong Kongflagged ship then continued its journey to Norfolk.

Authorities emphasize that the new policy is not a cellphone ban, but a clarification about acceptable practices with the devices, since cellphone use sometimes serves the purposes of navigation.

“We started looking into instances where (electronic devices) could have been part of an incident,” said Mike Breslin, director of safety and sustainability for the American Waterways Operators (AWO), an advocacy group representing the U.S. tugboat, towboat and barge industry, “and we found that oftentimes it was a call from the office or another ship, and might have had something to do with operations.”

Breslin described his own organization’s response to distraction in the wheelhouse, a concept the AWO calls The Sterile Wheelhouse.

The idea is that each operator decide when electronics like cell phones can be used on the bridge and when not, and if perhaps the devices could go into a “Faraday bag” that would block signals during sterile wheelhouse periods.

But not even a selective curtailment of cellphone use could completely solve the problem, Breslin said.

With that in mind, Breslin said, the AWO has been working on resource kit for new hires that will introduce the idea of distractions – including those from wheelhouse electronics and shoreside managers – and discuss how to accommodate them without ignoring vital information.

“We plan to have a report out this summer containing guidance on operational communications,” Breslin said. “How do we train our captains and shoreside managers to reduce the inputs (masters receive.) We are setting up procedures to reduce the amount of distractions.”

Meanwhile, the Coast Guard continues to emphasize what it published in Marine Safety Advisory 01-10, on distracted operations.

INDUSTRY

Signals Maryland authorities clarify phone policy after Ever Forward grounding

This article was originally published in the March 2023 issue of Professional Mariner magazine and appears here with permission from the publisher.

By Rob Laymon

T

he pilot fiddled with his cell phone even as the big ship missed the turn. The third officer sang out their compass course as a clue they were going wrong. Others on the bridge did likewise as the tension mounted. The pilot acknowledged their direction and continued work with his phone.

Thus, the 1,095-foot containership Ever Forward went aground near Craighill Channel in the Chesapeake Bay on March 13, 2022, 121 minutes out of the Seagirt Marine Terminal in Baltimore and still many miles from its destination, Norfolk, Virginia.

The Maryland Board of Pilots has since issued an updated policy on the use of cell phones among pilots while on duty in Maryland waters. The guidance takes its place alongside others in the country restricting cell phone use to only what is necessary to pilot the ship.

“It makes clear and specific guidance about mobile phone usage,” said Joseph E. Farren, chief strategy officer at the Maryland Department of Labor.

“The board was deliberate and wanted

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U.S. Coast Guard

“I think we all agree that it’s a behavior we are trying to establish.

It’s not that we want to rely on a bag to stop the signal. We are trying to develop a habit,” Breslin said.

The Maryland Board of Pilots has updated its policy on cell phone use following the Ever Forward grounding last year.

Professional Mariner March 2023

professionalmariner.com

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Mobile phone use in pilotage waters A source of distraction – and an essential tool John Clarke FNI

Key takeaways • Distractions are a leading cause of shipping accidents • Smart phones and devices are a powerful source of distraction • Smart phones are an essential tool for pilots • Pilotage services must use effective policies and procedures to manage phone use on the bridge

Feature: Mobile phone use in pilotage waters

Mobile phone use in pilotage waters A source of distraction John Clarke – and an essential tool FNI

Key takeaways l Distractions are a leading

cause of shipping accidents

l Smart phones and devices

On March 13 2022 the 334m container ship Ever Forward grounded under pilotage in Chesapeake Bay and remained in that position for over a month before being refloated. The US Coast Guard investigation report concluded that the primary cause of the accident was the pilot’s ‘failure to maintain situational awareness and attention while navigating’. Between leaving the berth and immediately before grounding, the pilot spent much of the transit making personal telephone calls, sending and reading text messages, drafting an email and replaying a previous pilotage on his Portable Pilot Unit (PPU) computer to capture a particular screenshot he needed. [Editor’s note: see MARS, p19, for link to the accident report and further analysis.]

Responding to the incident, the Maryland Board of Pilots suspended the pilot’s licence indefinitely. On 6 January 2023, it enacted a rule to ban the use of personal mobile phones by pilots.

Mariner reaction It is not clear from reading the various news reports whether the phone ban applies to all phones or if it is limited solely to personal phones. The reports led to discussion on The Nautical Institute (Technical Group) at Linkedin, where some commenters expressed their opinion that pilots should not use phones for any purpose at all during pilotage. Others felt the ban was a knee-jerk response that could reduce safety in pilotage waters.

This accident was not the first time a ship has grounded due to the pilot or officer conning the ship being distracted by phone use (for some examples, see investigation reports Priscilla 2018, Crimson Mars 2006, Bunga Teratai Satu 2000).

It seems timely to raise the question: In light of this accident, is there any case for pilots to continue using phones on the bridge?

are a powerful source of distraction

l Smart phones are an

essential tool for pilots

l Pilotage services must

use effective policies and procedures to manage phone use on the bridge

O

n March 13 2022 the 334m container ship Ever Forward grounded under pilotage in Chesapeake Bay and remained in that position for over a month before being refloated. The US Coast Guard investigation report concluded that the primary cause of the accident was the pilot’s ‘failure to maintain situational awareness and attention while navigating’. Between leaving the berth and immediately before grounding, the pilot spent much of the transit making personal telephone calls, sending and reading text messages, drafting an email and replaying a previous pilotage on his Portable Pilot Unit (PPU) computer to capture a particular screenshot he needed. [Editor’s note: see MARS, p19, for link to the accident report and further analysis.]

Responding to the incident, the Maryland Board of Pilots suspended the pilot’s licence indefinitely.

On 6 January 2023, it enacted a rule to ban the use of personal mobile phones by pilots.

Mariner reaction

It is not clear from reading the various news reports whether the phone ban applies to all phones or if it is limited solely to personal phones. The reports led to discussion on The Nautical Institute (Technical Group) at Linkedin, where some commenters expressed their opinion that pilots should not use phones for any purpose at all during pilotage. Others felt the ban was a knee-jerk response that could reduce safety in pilotage waters.

This accident was not the first time a ship has grounded due to the pilot or officer conning the ship being distracted by phone use (for some examples, see investigation reports Priscilla 2018, Crimson Mars 2006, Bunga Teratai Satu 2000).

It seems timely to raise the question: In light of this accident, is there any case for pilots to continue using phones on the bridge?

The hazard of distraction

A pilot’s highest priorities are to control the movement of the ship and to maintain situational awareness – everything else must be secondary.

However, because we are human, we sometimes work against our best interests: we are good at paying attention when our workload is high and we 4 | Seaways | March 2023

are mentally engaged, but during periods of low workload/low engagement we tend to become bored and inattentive. Statistics show that most accidents in the shipping industry occur during these periods of low workload/low engagement. A pilot following a straight section of a channel or fairway with no pressing threats at hand would not be human if they did not sometimes feel the temptation to fill out some paperwork or reach for their phone and read an email. Some might even rationalise it to themselves as productive use of ‘idle’ time. This is a hazardous belief; Jens Rasmussen’s ‘drift towards failure’ model concisely illustrates the effect on safety margins of our desire to take shortcuts and minimise our workload.

As we seek to make life easier for ourselves and cut corners, every decision narrows the margin between what we think is acceptable performance and the point where accidents will occur.

Distractions and interruptions are a leading cause of lost situational awareness – we know this from our Bridge Resource Management (BRM) training.

Endsley’s model of situational awareness informs us that perception of what is happening around us (Level 1 situational awareness) is the most basic, primary level of situational awareness. If a pilot has their head down reading an email and is not actively monitoring their environment, they have little chance of maintaining that Level 1 situational awareness.

Pilots must remain conscious of the hazards of distraction, especially during periods where the workload is relatively low.

Do mobile phones present a unique distraction?

It could be said that phone bans are unnecessary because pilotage services should already have policies or procedures in place that emphasise the importance of giving full attention to the pilotage. Additionally it could be argued that a mobile phone is no more distracting to a pilot than is daydreaming or becoming engrossed in conversation with the master.

There is, however, ample evidence to support the proposition that mobile phones are a particularly powerful distraction. We are more plugged in and connected than ever before, and that connectedness increases daily. Smart phones and their apps are specifically designed to gain and hold our attention.

Even when we consciously try to ignore them, our devices continue to nag us with alerts for incoming or missed calls, emails, messages, updates and social media posts.

Read Seaways online at www.nautinst.org/seaways

Originally published in the Nautical Institute Magazine Seaways, in association with the Royal Institute of Navigation in March 2023 and reproduced with the author’s permission nautinst.org

The hazard of distraction A pilot’s highest priorities are to control the movement of the ship and to maintain situational awareness – everything else must be secondary. However, because we are human, we sometimes work against our best interests: we are good at paying attention when our workload is high and we are mentally engaged, but during periods of low workload/low engagement we tend to become bored and inattentive. Statistics show that most accidents in the shipping industry occur during these periods of low workload/low engagement. A pilot following a straight section of a channel or fairway with no pressing threats at hand would not be human if they did not sometimes feel the temptation to fill out some paperwork or reach for their phone and read an email. Some might even rationalise it to themselves as productive use of ‘idle’ time.

This is a hazardous belief; Jens Rasmussen’s ‘drift towards failure’ model concisely illustrates the effect on safety margins of our desire to take shortcuts and minimise our workload. As we seek to make life easier for ourselves and cut corners, every decision narrows the margin between what we think is acceptable performance and the point where accidents will occur.

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Distractions and interruptions are a leading cause of lost situational awareness – we know this from our Bridge Resource Management (BRM) training. Endsley’s model of situational awareness informs us that perception of what is happening around us (Level 1 situational awareness) is the most basic, primary level of situational awareness.

If a pilot has their head down reading an email and is not actively monitoring their environment, they have little chance of maintaining that Level 1 situational awareness.

Pilots must remain conscious of the hazards of distraction, especially during periods where the workload is relatively low.

Do mobile phones present a unique distraction?

It could be said that phone bans are unnecessary because pilotage services should already have policies or procedures in place that emphasise the importance of giving full attention to the pilotage.

Additionally it could be argued that a mobile phone is no more distracting to a pilot than is daydreaming or becoming engrossed in conversation with the master. There is, however, ample evidence to support the proposition that mobile phones are a particularly powerful distraction. We are more plugged in and connected than ever before, and that connectedness increases daily. Smart phones and their apps are specifically designed to gain and hold our attention.

Even when we consciously try to ignore them, our devices continue to nag us with alerts for incoming or missed calls, emails, messages, updates and social media posts. The devices aren’t entirely to blame – there are also human factor considerations. There are many peer-reviewed research papers that show the growing prevalence of mobile phone addiction in society (available online, of course).

As the capability of smart phones increases, our willingness to give them our attention increases with it. For a growing number of us, our phone is a constant companion and many people become anxious when separated from their phone for even a short period.

Mobile phones and devices actively compete for our attention, and we gladly give in to them.

It is clear that mobile phones present a significant and growing opportunity for distracting us from our primary tasks on the bridge.

And we seem to be predisposed to paying attention to these devices.

Mobile phones as a business tool When pilots board a ship they join the bridge team, but they also retain a leading role in the port team. In addition to conning the ship they often need to communicate with other people outside the ship such as VTS operators, towage, support craft, lock/bridge operators, line handlers, terminal staff and other pilots/masters holding a Pilot Exemption Certificate (PEC). This is done by phone

or radio. VHF offers an advantage over a phone call: both sides of the conversation are broadcast, which means the bridge team and any other harbour users get to hear exactly what the pilot hears.

However, not every conversation needs to be heard by everyone on the harbour. As an example pilots often need to talk with towage providers to solve problems or minimise delays. Using the phone for what can be complex conversations keeps radio channels free for essential traffic. In busy ports, high levels of superfluous VHF use can be a great distraction or even lead to volume controls being turned down on some ships, at the risk of missing relevant information.

Beyond their use for voice calls, smart phones have become a key source of information for pilots. Most of the organisations making up the port team structure their information systems around modern telecommunications – which means dedicated apps, automated SMS alerts, web forms, web portals, remote cameras, and constant connectivity, providing real-time data and high quality predictions of current/tide, wind, swell and dynamic underkeel clearance (UKC) at critical points of the voyage. Pilots often have access to apps showing allocated tugs, locks, berths, and expected traffic schedules. The providers of these information services expect mobile workers to access these systems on smart phones as they move about the port.

Pilots need this information to do their job safely and efficiently.

A pilotage service that prohibited pilots from using a smart phone for operational purposes would need to replace the phone with some other device providing the same connectivity. Some might ask why the pilot couldn’t simply use the PPU device to view or interact with these systems. It could be done that way, but it would require the pilot to tab away from the live PPU window for the time they are interacting with the other system. This would impact on the pilot’s situational awareness.

A smart phone (or a company-supplied device with the same functionality) is an essential tool for most pilots in this day and age.

Aviation and the Sterile Cockpit Since 1981, aviators have been required to follow the Sterile Cockpit Rule. Below 10,000 feet and during critical phases of the flight no conversation or activity that is not essential to the safe operation of the aircraft is permitted. The intention of this rule is to minimise distractions and reduce errors. The concept is not directly transferable to a marine setting but it could be adapted to our situation.

At most airlines today, iPads and other tablets have replaced the pilot’s bag of manuals, charts and flight documents. The transition to the ‘electronic flight bag’ began in the US, and is now widespread.

Aviators use their iPads to check weather forecasts and live weather conditions, they store the latest airport charts and

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procedures, and use dedicated flight planning and logging apps.

Large passenger aircraft also have satellite phones available on the flight deck to make calls to airlines and airports for such routine purposes as ordering galley stores, and to obtain assistance during incidents. Phone usage is not permitted during sterile cockpit conditions unless required for the safety of the flight.

The aviation industry appears to have managed the risk of distraction by means of standard operating procedures (SOPs) and the Sterile Cockpit Rule.

Learning from Ever Forward If the maritime industry is to gain anything useful from the Ever Forward grounding, we need to do better than impose blanket bans on phone use in pilotage waters. As Captain John Pace said in the Ever Forward Linkedin discussion: ‘Prescriptive controls for a behavioural problem rarely work!’

We know that mobile phones are an appropriate tool for managing safety and efficiency in pilotage. But we also know how distracting they can be.

We need to address the distraction risk, rather than banning the device. Education has a role to play here. BRM course facilitators should emphasise how distraction and interruption can affect human performance. BRM course materials and lectures should specifically discuss the Ever Forward grounding and explain the unique distraction hazards of mobile phones.

Pilotage services should develop and implement practicable policies and procedures that rule out or restrict the use of devices for personal purposes whenever a pilot is acting as part of the bridge team. These policies and procedures should explicitly state the pilot’s priorities when in control of the ship and the conditions under which a pilot may use a smart phone for operational purposes in a similar manner to the aviation sterile cockpit concept.

Ship managers and officers of the watch should take into account the legitimate utility of mobile phones in pilotage operations when writing their own policies and procedures and when navigating in pilotage waters. A captain or OOW must always be empowered to challenge a pilot who appears to be engaging in at risk behaviour with devices or phones. If it isn’t essential for the safe pilotage of the ship or if it appears to be a distraction, the Master or OOW should remember their BRM training and never hesitate to probe, challenge or intervene.

Ultimately pilots must take personal responsibility for their performance in this as in all pilotage matters. They have a duty of care to deliver a diligent and professional standard of pilotage.

They must ensure their devices are used for essential purposes

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only and to remain alert to the threats of inattention and distraction when piloting.

Useful links Nautical Institute Technical Group Linkedin discussion https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity: 7022936144598159361/ Sterile cockpit rule https://airlinesafety.com/editorials/CockpitCabinPsychology.htm Rasmussen’s Drift towards Failure Model https://medium.com/10x-curiosity/boundaries-of-failurerasmunssens-model-of-how-accidents-happen-58dc61eblcf

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PILOTAGE INSTITUTE OF BRAZIL AGENDA FULL OF SIMULATIONS, TRAINING AND LIVE

LIFE JACKET

SENAI CIMATEC WILL DEVELOP A PROTOTYPE FOR PILOTAGE

In July, the Pilotage Institute of Brazil signed a partnership agreement with Senai Cimatec, in Bahia, to develop a lifejacket prototype suitable for the pilotage service. The purpose is to prepare in 15 months equipment that involves solutions not only to absorb impacts but also prolong survival time in the sea. The signing event was attended by pilot Marcio Fausto, technical director of Brazilian Pilotage; Jacqueline Wendpap, CEO of the Pilotage Institute of Brazil; pilot Alexandre Takimoto, from Bahia Pilotage; as well as Victor Hugo Villafán and Ricardo Blanquet, the managers of the local pilot station.

photo: Publicity

photo: Publicity

The Pilotage Institute of Brazil, in Brasilia, continues full steam ahead. After completing the fourth group of the pilotage station operators’ course, the space received more pilots for simulations, as well as the visit from Valenciaport Foundation and a live with Augusto Vedan, ship chartering manager of the National Waterway Transportation Agency (Antaq). Pilots from Ceará simulated possible impacts of the facility of a regasification plant on maneuvers in Pecém Port. And pilots from Bahia performed tasks with VLCC tankers in mooring area in Todos os Santos Bay. Also, the students of the “Master in Port Management and Logistics”, in Valenciaport, got to know the Institute and its simulation center. The Antaq manager explained the Maritime and Shipping Support Chartering System.

PILOT STATIONS CARRY OUT RESCUE WORKS AS SUPPORT FOR THE BRAZILIAN NAVY Cooperating with search and rescue activities is one of the pilotage duties stated in the Maritime Authority Regulations for Pilotage Service. In July, the Pilots’ Amazon Basin Group (BAP), which operates in the Eastern Amazon Basin (ZP-01), aided the rescue of three people who were adrift in a boat in the Macapá Bay. In September, São Francisco Pilots (SC) rescued a crew member who fell overboard from a ship anchored in Babitonga Bay. In the same month, Bahia Pilots helped to tow a fishing boat in the Bay of Todos os Santos.

photo: Publicity

SAR

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BRASILIA photo: Publicity

NEW MINISTER OF PORTS AND AIRPORTS TAKES OFFICE

COURSE

photo: Publicity

In September, pilot Ricardo Falcão, president of Brazil Pilotage, and Jacqueline Wendpap, CEO of the Pilotage Institute of Brazil, attended the handover ceremony of office to the Minister of Ports and Airports, Silvio Costa Filho, federal representative elected

by Pernambuco state (Republicans).

LECTURE FOR FGV UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS

SPORT ISAQUIAS QUEIROZ GUARANTEED IN PARIS 2024

photo: Bruno Haddad

Pilot Bruno Fonseca, vice-president of Pilotage of Brazil, lectured on the activity to the first and second-year students of the Public Administration course of Getulio Vargas Foundation (FGV). The lecture, included in an elective under-graduation subject, occurred in October at the DP World terminal in Santos (SP).

CONDOLENCES MESSAGE OF CONDOLENCE FOR THE DEATH OF PILOT HORMAIN Pilotage of Brazil pays tribute to pilot Luiz Antonio Hormain, who died in July. He was a proficient and conscientious pilot working in the Lagoa dos Patos Pilotage, Rivers, Ports and Onshore Terminals (ZP-20).

photo: Publicity

Our champion Isaquias Queiroz has ensured a place in the Olympic Games in the C1M1000m canoeing category. With four Olympic medals, he could be on the same level as the top Brazilian athletes in Paris 2024.

Torben Grael and Robert Scheidt have five podiums each.

SUCCESS @

The video of a ship with no pilot onboard colliding with another during an attempt to moor in Fazendinha (Macapá, Amapá-AP) went viral.

The captain was foreign.

With Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube there were more than five million views – a record in our channels!!

Video reproduction

MEDIA

IT WENT VIRAL

Another video very successful in our networks shows the firefighting scenes on a ship in Porto do Açu (Rio de Janeiro-RJ) with more than 67,000 views. The audio is by a captain of a vessel who spent over an hour watching pilot Michele’s contribution. From the pilot boat with a wider view of the flames, she instructed the tugs that put the fire out. Congratulations!

Video reproduction

@freepik

RECOGNITION

10,000 YOUTUBE SUBSCRIBERS We had 10,000 subscribers on YouTube, a 1,392% organic growth since 2019.

The network changed to a new visual identity, regular posts and the creation of a maneuver playlist.

The most popular views in that period were the collision mentioned in the first note of the column, with 1.3 million views; followed by the arrival of a piloted submarine in Rio de Janeiro, with 126,000 views; and the video of the pilot’s work recorded in Ceará state, with 99,000 views.

PORT PLANNING Nautical Access Recommendations Port planning – Nautical Access Recommendations now has an English translation. The book is a contribution by 25 authors with suggestions for port designs or facilities alterations. The coordination is by professors Edson Mesquita dos Santos and Sergio H. Sphaier, marine consultant Mario Calixto and pilot Marcelo Cajaty.

The book is the result of the work of the commission that revised the ABNT standard on port planning (ABNT NBR 13246:2017), approved and later cancelled without explanation. The group that participated in this book benefited from the effort spent on formatting the standards and produced a compendium with the latest updated international refences.

The authors involved are designers, researchers, engineers, seafarers, shipowners, port workers, pilots and terminal representatives. They based their contributions on documents from the World Association for Waterborne Transport Infrastructure (Pianc), the US Army Corps of Engineers handbook and Spanish maritime construction recommendations.

Author Luís Fernando Resano, executive director of the Brazilian Association of Cabotage Shipowners (Abac), was the one who suggested the review of the ABNT standard, with Professor Edson Mesquita as the secretary of the revising committee.

The preface is signed by Vice-Admiral Wilson Pereira de Lima Filho, director of the National Agency for Waterway Transportation (Antaq), former president of the Admiralty Court. The book is published by Brazilian Pilotage. The English and Portuguese versions of the book are available on praticagemdobrasil.org.br, with free download in the Publications sector.