Rembrandt sets scene for restored port’s pilots

The port was struck by a flash flood two years ago which silted the harbour by up to 4m in some areas and resulted in the port authority reducing the size and draught of vessels that could enter the port. This reduction in vessel size hit the port’s revenue severely, especially at a time when the world’s shipping economy was experiencing a severe downturn in trade. Following one of the largest surveying and dredging operations in Brazil, the Port of Itajai is once again open for business to large container vessels.

In order to refresh their pilots’ ship handling knowledge and experience of large containerships, Itajai Port Authority commissioned Coastal Planning and Engineering of Brazil (CPE Brasil) and BMT ARGOSS to provide a PC Rembrandt marine simulator workshop at the port’s offices in Brazil. The workshop lasted four days and was attended by Itajai Pilots, senior representatives of APM Itajai, MSC and the Port Authority. The importance of the workshop was reflected by the attendance of Itajai’s Mayor and four national TV news organisations.

The workshop provided the pilots with a simulated model of a 290m container vessel which had been fully validated against previous ship trials data. The Port of Itajai was recreated in PC Rembrandt using the standard British Admiralty chart. The port’s latest bathymetry and hydrodynamic data including tides and currents were incorporated from information gained through CPE Brasil’s recent surveying work. Further information was added on site in Brazil, such as the port’s tug suite which can be simulated in PC Rembrandt in vector format.

The PC Rembrandt system was then managed and operated by BMT ARGOSS’s Southampton director Simon Burnay, with all runs and simulations conducted on the worse case scenarios to test and identify the port’s operational limits for vessels of this size. At the end of the four days, a set of Standard Operation Procedures (SOP’s) were developed between BMT ARGOSS and Port of Itajai’s Pilots for the safe operation and manoeuvring of container vessels of 290m+.

James Norwood, manager of the Manoeuvring Simulation Division of BMT ARGOSS said, ‘We have a strong relationship with CPE Brasil and the Port of Itajai and we are delighted that BMT ARGOSS was given the opportunity to deliver cost effective, accurate and flexible on site training to support the port’s increased capacity.

‘The PC Rembrandt workshop is very popular as BMT ARGOSS has the proven capability to provide an accurate training solution in a location that suits the client. During the workshop, a full range of simulation runs were conducted with extreme environmental conditions added in both night and day modes to test the limits. The information gleaned from PC Rembrandt provided all stakeholders with an extremely accurate analysis of large containership operations in Itajai and we look forward to hearing the results of the Port’s first 290m container vessel visit.’