For the first time, a Ro-Ro type ship (Roll-on / roll-off), which carries rolling loads, was chartered exclusively to load a complete batch of buses at the Port of Paranaguá. This week Ulusoy 5 took 130 passenger transport vehicles to Luanda, Angola. This number of buses loaded, in a single operation, is also new in the port of Paraná.
“The Ports of Paraná are increasingly qualified to receive and load this type of cargo, general cargo and vehicles. These are products with added value that come to Paranaguá because here we have know-how and infrastructure that guarantee total security to users ”, says Luiz Fernando Garcia, CEO of Portos do Paraná.
The ship docked last Monday (27th), at berth 215. The operation was carried out by Marcon, the main vehicle and general cargo operator in the Port of Paranaguá. The vessel docked at around 6 am, loaded about six and set sail the same day, at 7 pm. The buses were purchased by the Angolan Ministry of Transport.
EFFICIENCY – According to the operations director, Luiz Teixeira da Silva Júnior, Portos do Paraná has operational efficiency to work with this type of cargo. “Operational efficiency is made up of the quality of manpower and the quality of port operators, which provides security for boarding,” he says.
One of the advantages of the Port of Paranaguá, according to him, are the areas that the public company offers to users, within the organized port, with total condition to form the lot, in wide spaces and bonded areas. “It was the case for that lot. All of these buses were deposited within our areas, thus facilitating the operation when the ship docks. This set gives us an advantage over other ports so that this type of cargo can be shipped here ”, he says.
OPERATION – The shipowners are European and the services for this operation were coordinated by Wasa Projects Logistics, from São Paulo, in partnership with Marcon Serviços de Despachos em Geral, from Paranaguá.
“Wasa is a company specializing in maritime projects and international logistics for heavy, super-heavy, rolling and cargo ship charters in general. The company already operates with several projects in several Brazilian ports. Now, they are also targeting the Port of Paranaguá due to the operational facilities, organization and costs practiced in the port of Paraná, ”says Jorge Lemos, Marcon’s operational manager.
According to the manager, they would have chosen to bring the cargo to the Port of Paranaguá due to the proximity of the factory and the facilities.
EXPORT – The buses being exported by Marcopolo, under the coordination of Asperbras, were manufactured at the company’s unit in Caxias, in Rio Grande do Sul. According to Ricardo Portolan, Marcopolo’s International Business Executive Manager, this is the first bus export company, with a protection kit, called BioSafe.
“It is a partition system that works as a protective barrier for drivers and collectors. As a physical barrier for the driver and collector that reduces the possibility of contagion of the disease because it prevents transmission and contact with the droplets expelled during speech, coughing or sneezing. The panels involve the work area of these professionals, who are exposed daily to the large circulation of people, also guaranteeing protection for passengers ”, explains Portolan.
In the last three years, the Marcopolo / Asperbras partnership has taken more than 600 units to the Angolan market.
Source: Portos do Paraná
