On the night of last Thursday (3), the merchant ship "Ever Lifting" unloaded from the container terminal ICTSI Rio, in the Port of Rio de Janeiro, bound for the Port of Santos, using the Cotunduba Canal. It is the first time that a 335-meter LOA vessel has sailed on the track at night. The information was released by Companhia Docas do Rio de Janeiro (CDRJ), the Port Authority responsible for managing the port.

The container ship "Ever Lifting" was built in 2015 and is sailing under the flag of the United Kingdom. With a width of 45 meters and a draft of 13 meters, its load capacity is 8,452 TEU. The night maneuver on the Cotunduba Canal had a coordinated action by the teams of the CDRJ's Water Access Management, the VTMIS Management (English acronym for Vessel Traffic Management and Information System), the Brazilian Navy, the RJ Pilotage and of the Port Guard, which carried out the previous scan of the Canal and the escort of the ship during the journey.

Nighttime maneuvers on the Cotunbuba Canal, also known as “Canal Varrido”, started in April this year, after the route gained a modern nautical signal. The new beacon has three articulated submersible buoys (BAS) equipped with AIS AtoN transceiver technology, which promote greater precision in delimiting the channel in order to reduce the risk of accidents.

This improvement in the main waterway access of large ships to the Port of Rio de Janeiro was made possible by a partnership between CDRJ and the ICTSI Rio, MultiRio and Triunfo Logística port terminals. The entire project was developed by a Working Group (WG) led by the Port Authority and with the participation of representatives from the leasing companies, the Brazilian Navy (MB) and the Pilotage RJ.

With the Cotunduba Canal operational for safe night navigation, boarding and disembarking operations are being made possible at night and it is estimated that the waiting time of the ships will be reduced by approximately eight hours to around 50% port scales in Rio de Janeiro, providing the maximization of the entrance and exit windows and greater competitiveness for the terminals.

Source: ASSCOM, on 12/07/2020.