AAPA Seaports
The Most Efficient and Promising Ports in Brazil
The latest national projections indicated that the Ports of Paraná would reach an annual volume of 60 million tons of cargo in 2030.
However, exceeding expectations, the port terminals of Paranaguá and Antonina ended 2022 handling more than 58 million tons, and have now reached the second half of 2023, with high chances of exceeding the milestone seven years ahead of schedule.
The word that guides the port management in Brazil’s State of Paraná is efficiency. The challenge is to prepare the ports for the future, find ways to optimize costs, maintain productivity and safety, and thus gain competitiveness.
Efficiency
With just over five kilometers of quays and 24 berths, the Ports of Paraná are able to handle more cargo, in less time, compared to other public ports. Productivity per linear meter of quay reached more than 11,000 tons in 2022.
To maintain this level of efficiency and accompanying results, the port’s administration invests in three main pillars: access to infrastructure, land infrastructure, and maritime infrastructure. In addition, it is constantly reviewing the rules and managing time and operational indicators.
Paranaguá and Antonina are multipurpose ports, that means, they work with several cargo segments – solid bulk, liquid, general cargo, and beginning this year, passengers.
Management
Given this reality, planning is fundamental. The focus is on reducing “unproductive” times and making the operation more efficient. This means leaving the ships with less time occupying the berths, and producing more while docked.
This goes well beyond the port’s structures. The goal is to reduce ship navigation, waiting, operating, and departing times. These “operational crossings,” on a day-today basis, are fundamental for operations to be optimized.
All this systemic interaction of the port operation has been managed internally and with the other stakeholders, as a port community. It is no coincidence that Portos do Paraná is consolidated as a reference in the port area of Brazil and was elected this year, for the fourth consecutive time, as the best port management in the country for its hard work and results.
Innovation
Internally, among Brazilian ports, the terminals of Paraná already stand out as leading ports when it comes to innovation. Gradually, outside of Brazil, Portos do Paraná has been recognized for its port management that seek technological development.
Already implemented in the test phase, Port Collaborative Decision Making (PortCDM) is a proposal for managing maritime operations in real time, with the objective of optimizing the flow of operations and the exchange of information between the actors involved in the process of entering and leaving ships in the ports of Paraná – pilotage, tugboats, moorings, and national agencies.
Portos do Paraná’s Port Community System (PCS) is a digital platform for data exchange across the port community. It seeks to connect multiple systems used by different organizations involved in the activity, integrating information from the entire logistics chain, and promoting efficiency by reducing times and costs. We are on the verge of being able to contract the development of this tool.
The search for innovative solutions is essential to serve customers with quality, and for the ports of Paraná to continue generating positive, integrated results.
Investments
In another pioneering move, the port administration is studying a concession model for the access channel to the Port of Paranaguá. The Paraná proposal is being analyzed by the Brazilian Government and, subsequently, will go to public consultation.
The maritime concession idea foresees that the private sector invests in dredging, signaling, bathymetry, environmental programs, and monitoring services. The main objective is to have a greater draft in the Galheta Channel, which is about 22.6 kilometers long and gives access to the ports of Paranaguá and Antonina. Today, the maximum depth for the entry of ships is 12.8 meters. The forecast is to move to 13.3 meters in the implementation phase and reach 15.5 meters after the concession.
In all, the planned investments total R$1.05 billion to R$251 million by the second year and R$797 million by the fourth year. The concession studied is partial, with a hybrid judgment model: higher discount on the tariff and higher offer value.
Currently, Portos do Paraná holds a fiveyear contract for the continued maintenance dredging service that started in 2019. The current investment in this service is R$403 million.
Railway Access
With an investment of R$592 million, the new railway hopper, better known as “Moegão,” will centralize the unloading of trains arriving at the Port of Paranaguá with solid vegetable bulk for export. This will be the largest investment in the port sector in Brazil.
The area where the structure will be installed will have almost 600,000 square meters, enough for the simultaneous unloading of 180 wagons in three independent lines, which will allow a 63 percent increase in unloading capacity, from 550 to 900 wagons per day.
The project considers the current reality and the need to expand the participation in the rail mode, but also looks to the future of logistics in the state and nationally. It aims to directly meet the increase in demand caused by Nova Ferroeste, which will expand the railway structure in the interior of Paraná by hundreds of kilometers, with branches to the states of Mato Grosso do Sul and Santa Catarina, increasing the logistical importance of the Port of Paranaguá.
In addition to the exclusive hopper, the access to the Terminals of the Eastern Region of the Port of Paranaguá will be restructured, optimizing the capacity to receive cargo in both road and rail modes. The work involves new transportation galleries to take the products unloaded at the hopper to the logistics terminals in the port area.
New Leases
Portos do Paraná also continues to look to the future to advance as a logistics hub in South America. To this end, the public company from Paraná is investing in major works that will expand cargo handling capacity, but also on the regularization and disposal of new port areas to attract investments.
In the last four years, four areas have been auctioned and currently, there are four new areas available: PAR09, PAR14, PAR15, and PAR 03. Intended for the handling and storage of solid vegetable bulk, PAR09 is located at the western end of the port area and has 26,576 square meters. The investment estimate for the area is around R$910 million.
Located to the east of the Port of Paranaguá, areas PAR14 and PAR15 are intended for the handling and storage of solid vegetable bulk. PAR14 has 49,841 square meters and foresees an investment of around R$1.2 billion. In PAR15, with 38,859 square meters, the planned investment is R$656.8 million. Both areas are already occupied and operational, totalling almost R$1.9 billion.
PAR03 will be used for the handling and storage of solid mineral bulk, mainly fertilizers. The area has 38 thousand square meters and includes the yard located in front of the administrative headquarters of Portos do Paraná and the Public Fertilizer Terminal. The preliminary survey indicates the tentative need for minimum investments of R$233 million.
