Superlatives in Paraná ports

MEDIA SUCCESS

Extensive navigation, extreme conditions and perilous passages are features of the pilots’ work in one of the largest port complexes in South America

Pilot boarding point

Paranaguá Port

pilotage in Brazil

Rumos Práticos is now at the eighth episode in the series about the Brazilian pilotage zones and presents the particularities and challenges overcome by pilots in the ports of Antonina and Paranaguá (Paraná), the latter being one of the five largest ports in port handling in 2021, according to the National Waterway Transportation Agency (Antaq). Together, last year the Paraná ports handled 57.52 million tons of freight, an unprecedented record that relies on the contribution of the pilotage not only in the efficiency of ship maneuvers, but also in investments and consulting services to optimize safe operations. In 2021, there were 7,009 maneuvers in the Paraná ports.

By August this year, 39.86 million tons were loaded and unloaded, with a 2% increase and record volume for the period, considering the last ten years, according to the Paranaguá and Antonina Ports Administration (APA). It is no easy task to ensure smooth distribution. The first problem that arises is the size of Pilot Station 17, one of the largest in the port pilot zones. There are nineteen nautical miles from pilot boarding outside the bar until the central part of Paranaguá inside the bay. From there to Antonina at Felix Point are another six miles.

The pilot station is located on the banks of the Itiberê River, where the entire administrative and operational structure is concentrated (pier, workshop and operations center). It involves 13 motorboat masters, nine mariners and 19 maintenance employees. In order for the pilot to reach the boarding point, the motorboat crosses upriver the Techint facilities, the islands of Mel and Galheta and, finally, another six miles beyond the bar (APA wants to extend it for another mile to receive heavier loaded vessels). The journey takes 45-60 minutes, depending on the sea state. This is because cold fronts frequently affect the region, with a prevailing southern wind, strong enough to reach 30 knots, causing waves of up to three meters to hit the motorboat head-on.

To withstand the long journey and rough conditions in the open sea, the pilotage is finalizing the upgrade of its bar fleet. The arrival of the fourth 44-ft 14-ton motorboat was expected by September 20th, compared to the old 33-ft 7-ton boats. The first vessel started operations in 2016. This procurement practically zeroed any bar infeasibility due to risks in boarding and disembarking. The pilotage also plans to renew six port motorboats. One of them is being designed solely for hydrographic surveying.

“All this motorboat logistics, their wear and tear and the pilot’s time aboard involve very costly and complex management. What we always try to do are double calls; that is, match one ship entering with another leaving, using the same pilot, economizing a motorboat, personnel and optimizing the port”, explains the pilot station’s managing director pilot Victor Demaison.

Motorboat master Ivaldo Muniz recalls what it was like in 1986 when he began the job:

“In the past, the boats were made of wood and iron hull, we would get on water in the early hours of the morning, at whatever time the pilot arrived. We’d cope with all kinds of things... Nowadays we have everything at hand.”

Pilot Moniz de Aragão remembers that when they couldn’t disembark it was common to have to continue to another port:

“In general, we would go to Santos (São Paulo-SP) − or less often to Itajaí (Santa Catarina-SC), because when conditions were bad here they would also be bad there, since the wind comes from that direction. From Santos, we would return on another ship or by car. From Itajaí, we were always lucky enough to return by ship.”

In addition to the four new motorboats, the pilotage invested in the installation of an ODAS buoy (Ocean Data Acquisition System) next to the buoys one and two, at the entrance to Galheta Channel, 15 meters in depth. The equipment provides information such as wave height, wind direction and force, current and visibility, objectively enhancing the risk assessment for boarding and navigation.

It is precisely in that area and in the next two miles that the pilot meets the second challenge, after boarding. The channel there is narrow, with shallow water on both sides. And the occurrence of strong winds, high waves and intense cross-currents impact the vessel’s balance (difference between the direction of the bottom and actual direction of the bow), besides poor visibility. During the Rumos Práticos visit from September 6th to 9th, the bar was closed one whole morning due to fog.

"After boarding only two miles from the channel entrance, the pilot needs to climb the pilot’s ladder, reach the bridge, be aware of expected traffic, adjust speed and the ship’s approach to compensate for the external forces and prevent dangerous crossings", explain pilot Helio Sinohara and Professor Eduardo Tannuri (USP) in an article published in edition no.58 of the magazine.

Rumos Práticos accompanied on board the entrance of a Ro-Ro/ container carrier 210.92m in length and 32.26m beam, with a draft of 8.80m (the maximum draft is 12.80m). As soon as pilot Jhony Cipriano arrived on the bridge, after a first communication with the captain, he contacted operator Cleia Pires about the expected traffic (the operations center provides data from AIS antennae, cameras, tide-graphs, weather stations, current sensors and the ODAS buoy). Next, the pilot arranged the first crossing of the route with pilot Moniz, who was guiding a vessel in the opposite direction.

The constant crossings are another particular feature of the ZP. After all, with such busy navigation, it’s not possible to wait for a ship to cross the entire channel before the next one heads out, without compromising the port’s efficiency. This is why the communication between pilots is essential to calibrate speeds and combine crossings in safe stretches. On September 20th the pilots will simulate, in USP, crossings of 333m-long ships with a draft of over 11.50m.

Also, to optimize operations, most vessels enter directly to one of the many anchorage areas, where agencies and authorities deal with bureaucracy and inspection before mooring, thereby reducing idle time in the berth.

Another crucial focus point for the 32 pilots working in Paraná is the narrow passage on a bend and with rocks all around in the quadrilateral formed by the buoys 28A, 29, 30 and 31 in the channel. The occurrence of a current of up to two knots in the Itiberê River is yet another complication in that stretch, as well as the wind force. The container terminal (TCP), where longer ships with a wider sail area moor, is situated right on the side of this row of rocks.

“You’re sailing protected and suddenly the ship is impacted by a very strong current, so strong that it practically closes off the river, becomes a barrier. If it is swelling, the current throws you starboard and when it lowers, to port side. We can’t go too slowly because the current will hit too hard, nor too quickly to the extent of failing to stop with vessels up front. It’s a balancing game, and each ship is a ship. The pilot has to understand how each vessel maneuvers, if there’s a weak engine, it takes time to answer to the rudder command… And there’s not much time for that.”

Rumos Práticos accompanied the departure of a 330m-long container carrier, with 48.2m beam (draft 11.80m), with pilots Moniz de Aragão and Cláudio André in the maneuver. TCP and other terminals in Paranaguá are concentrated along the three mile-channel. According to APA, 63% of freight until August was solid bulk, 23% general cargo and 14% liquid bulk. The main exports were soybean, chicken meat, soy oil, beef, sugar, corn and cellulose (in 2021 Paranaguá was the second port behind Santos in soy and corn). The imports worth mentioning were fertilizers, general cargo and petroleum by-products.

“Since there is a variety of products, as a result of ship classes and loading conditions, the vessels have always been different. In this sense, each maneuver has a particular feature, in addition to the changing environmental conditions. Every day is a different maneuver. It is a constant challenge, there is no winning move”, comments pilot Cláudio André.

The arrival at Antonina Port is no less challenging. The channel through which ships of 8.5m draft or less pass is narrow and with outer shallows of up to two meters. There is no margin for error and a tug escorts the vessel throughout the stretch. From Felix

Point, it takes practically four hours of maneuver. From Paranaguá, it takes between two and two and a half hours on average. A strong counter current – that sometimes reaches three and a half knots – takes a longer crossing time.

Luiz Fernando Garcia, CEO of APA, praises the pilots’ work:

“A port’s efficiency is very much due to the pilotage. In Paraná, the excellence of the services is proven by the extremely low accident rate, market recognition and environmental care. Paranaguá Pilots is 164 years old and combines experience and innovation, undergoing a continuous upgrade process. The Paraná ports occupy top place for three consecutive years in Brazilian port management, according to the Infrastructure Ministry. Paranaguá is also the top-rated public port in the Antaq Environmental Development Index (IDA), and we’re consolidated as the second most important port in Brazil. I believe the major advantage is the synergy between the Port Authority, public authorities, pilotage and port community.”

The occurrence of environmental accidents is one of the Antaq IDA indicators. In 2021, pilot Cirio Cipriano prevented a container ship from running aground when its engines failed, forcing it to make a

25-minute emergency maneuver. The vessel was 299.98m in length with a 40.3m beam and 11.6m draft. After leaving the terminal, the problem arose in the passage between buoys 19 and 20, when the ship was still three miles from the first possible area for emergency anchorage.

Cirio Cipriano immediately alerted the operations center, requested to be ready to raise the anchors (should the situation get out of control) and requested tugs to standby. He controlled the direction of the ship with the remaining residual speed that rapidly diminished due to the flood tide. Another challenge was an approaching summer storm, reducing visibility and with gusts of wind. The vessel was able to navigate another two miles until it stopped, a moment when the pilot had to control the bow with the rudder and then used the bow thruster to avoid collision with the buoy. The tugs finally arrived with help.

“The bow tug went ahead towing the ship through the center in order for it to gain speed, and the stern tug positioned itself in the transom mirror, acting as a rudder and thruster. This was how we sailed the last mile to the emergency anchorage point”, told Cirio at that time.