Page 36: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (January 2018)

New Ship Repair Yard

Coming to Brazil

By Claudio Paschoa

The total volume of cargo tranported by sea in Brazil from in Rio de Janeiro and in the North of Brazil.

January to September 2017 was pegged at 800 million tons, Timely ship maintenance is not only good business according to a survey by the National Agency of Waterway practice, it is necessary to keep the assets in good stand-

Transportation (Antaq). A large number of oceangoing and ing with ? nanciers and insurers. “Under international law, cabotage ships are needed to move such a volme and many new ships, have to stop to make repairs every ? ve years, of these ships will need repairs of various kinds. Having but actually they go every two and three years on average,” identi? ed a positive demand for international standard ship said Saginaw. In this way, the EDPI will be a great relief to repair facilities in the South Atlantic basin, McQuilling Ser- international ship owners, who are presently forced to send vices, headquartered in New York, will be leading a proj- their ships from the South Atlantic routes, when their main- ect to invest nearly a billion in Lucena, on the coast of the tenance dates approach, to Singapore, China, the Middle northeast state of Paraíba, for the installation of the Brazil East or Portugal. With ships remaining in the South Atlantic

Basin Drydock Company (BBDC) repair yard projects. De- for repairs, when they are empty, shipowners will be able to signed to compete with the best repair yards in the world, save on the cost of taking their empty ships abroad. Accord- this will be the ? rst dedicated ship repair yard for medium ing to some estimates, these savings may reach the tune of and large-sized ships in the South Atlantic basin. McQuill- $200,000 to 400,000 per ship.

ing Services is the New York based marine transportation consulting and advisory group of McQuilling Partners, Inc.

THE NEW REPAIR YARD “Negotiations for the BBDC project were initiated more The repair yard will also have an area of 83,000 sq. m. than ? ve years ago, the project gained momentum in late of sheds and workshops, being able to attend any ship with 2016 when it received a preliminary environmental license a draft of up to 9 meters (empty of cargo), smaller vessels and after the Merchant Marine Fund awarded priority to the such as OSVs, ? shing vessels, and 75% of the semi-sub- majority of it’s ? nancing plans, which may be contracted mersibles in the global market. The project also counts on with BNDES’ (Brazilian Development Bank) ? nancial the participation of a team of designers from Portuguese agents,” said David Saginaw, BBDC Project Director in companies with extensive experience in the construction

New York. The enterprise was named the Pedra do Ingá and operation of repair yards. “No other ship repair yard

Docking Company (EDPI), in reference to the important ar- in the South Atlantic Basin will have these resources. At its chaeological site located in the State of Paraíba and known maximum capacity, it will be able to dock more than 120 worldwide. The location chosen for the implementation of ships per year, which includes cabotage, import and export the project was at the mouth of the Paraíba River and op- ships and in-transit vessels passing by Brazil on the main posite the Port of Cabedelo. trade routes of the ? eet segments of bulk carriers, oil tank- “The beginning of the construction of the EDPI, is slat- ers, containerships and offshore support,” said Celso Souza, ed for 2019 and should be completed within three years. McQuilling’s project manager in Brazil. It is estimated that

In 2021 it will be able to start operating with a Hydro-lift 2,000 jobs will be created during the construction phase and system. 2018 will be spent on design and engineering and in the operational phase, when at full capacity, the unit is once that’s complete we will proceed to the EPC contract expected to employ approximately 1,500 workers, gener- and then the construction process,” said Saginaw. The ship ating more than 4,500 indirect jobs. The construction will repair yard will be located within the harbor of the Port be carried out in phases with the expected duration of 36 of Cabedelo, a location adjacent to the main sea transport months. According to the Executive Secretary of Industry routes of the South Atlantic basin. With more than 660,000 and Commerce of the State of Paraíba, Marcos Procópio, sq. m. of total land area, and designed for the sole purpose the venture is the one with the largest projection in the state of ship repair and maintenance, with two dry docks and an in terms of investment value and for the emergence of a new ef? cient, Portuguese designed Hydro-lift system, it will be development matrix. “It is a project of values and location able to service any ship of the global merchant ? eet. Discus- that puts Paraíba as a reference for ships and vessels that sions on the concept of the new repair yard began in 2010, travel through the Atlantic and need, every few years, to with initial funding for feasibility analyzes being carried make revisions and repairs,” commented the secretary.

out in 2012. In 2013, Promon Engenharia, a Brazilian com- pany with 53 years of experience in engineering and proj-

LICENSING ect management, joined the project and in 2015, additional In July 2016, the Preliminary License (LP) was given funding was secured with the participation of a large inter- to the Brazil Basin Drydock Company (BBDC) project, a national ship owner. Ship repair operations are expected to key milestone for the implementation of the Pedra do Ingá begin in 2021. Docking Company (EDPI) repair yard. In October 2015

Generally there are no modern, international standard, the BBDC applied for the license at SUDEMA, the state specialized ship repair yards for medium and large ships in environmental agency, which, through the issuance of the the South Atlantic. There are only facilities for minor ship Term of Reference (TR), established the requirements for repairs in Argentina and Uruguay and several smaller yards the preparation of studies and analyses to evaluate the en- 36 Maritime Reporter & Engineering News • JANUARY 2018

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