By Redação PortalPortuario
The Santos Port Authority (APS) signed with the Portulano Consortium the contract for the implementation of the Vessel Traffic Management Information System (VTMIS). This monitoring system, which covers the entire Organized Port area, will allow greater efficiency in operations, navigational safety and support in combating illicit activities, such as drug trafficking.
The contract has a total value of R$ 88.99 million, for five years, involving the construction and equipment installation phases (up to two years) and integrated logistics services. The Portulano Consortium is composed of the companies BEN Bureau Engenharia & Negócios, Erival Telecomunicações Comércio e Representações and Almaviva Solutions. VTMIS Santos begins operating as early as next year
Real-time vessel traffic monitoring is a milestone in the digital transformation for operations at the Port of Santos, allowing control of vessel entries and exits, as well as greater efficiency in the use of facilities and port operations.
The system will have cameras and stations at elevations, such as on Ilha da Moela (Guarujá), and is part of APS’s technology package, which includes the Integrated Port Management System, Vessel Sequencing System, Digital Twin, 5G Network, Smart Port, Port of Santos App, among other ongoing initiatives.
The images generated by VTMIS will be presented in real time at an Operations Center at APS itself, which will have the capacity to interact with vessel traffic and respond to all situations, from vessel approach, anchorage areas, access channel and even private terminals.
VTMIS Santos will also share data to support the operations of the Maritime Police (Nepom-PF), the Brazilian Navy, the Federal Revenue Service, among other allies in preventing and repressing illicit acts against vessels and port facilities. The system can detect and identify, in real time, vessels that are suspicious or not authorized to navigate in the maritime area of the Organized Port.
The VTMIS Santos implementation project had been under development for more than 15 years. During this period, institutional changes, scope revisions, regulatory changes and investment priorities contributed to the postponement of the project’s implementation. The project remained considered strategic by APS for increasing navigational safety, protection of port facilities, operational efficiency and sustainability of maritime operations at the Port of Santos.
For the success of the implementation, the preliminary studies required by the Brazilian Navy were carried out with the establishment of three premises: reduction of implementation time; use of the radars and infrastructure delivered by the last contract; and advanced negotiations with the owners of the land where the radar stations would be installed.
Once this phase was completed, the study was presented to the Directorate of Hydrography and Navigation (DHN), the responsible body of the Brazilian Navy, to license the implementation and authorize the operation of the Vessel Traffic Service.
The Navy granted, in September 2024, the implementation license, considering all the premises presented by APS.
After the implementation license, all the agreements and licenses foreseen for the publication of the bidding notice were established, such as: assessment of the land to be used, exemption from environmental licensing by the environmental agencies (Ibama and Cetesb), agreement with the Secretariat of Union Heritage (SPU) and the Navy for the use of the Ilha da Moela Lighthouse, lease agreements and agreements for the use of the data retransmission towers, among others.
The structuring project prepared by APS reduced the implementation period from four to two years, allowing that, at the end of the first year, VTMIS Santos already enters into operation with a significant portion of its functionalities available for use, anticipating the availability of operational and safety benefits for the Port of Santos.
