Enseada do Paraguaçu Shipyard revives the shipbuilding industry in Bahia

Project gathers a pool of national and international companies and signals a new course for Brazilian industrial growth, with a focus on the shipbuilding sector

One of the direct consequences of the exploration of pre-salt layer petroleum is the rebirth of the Brazilian shipbuilding industry, which today has market potential that is estimated at US$ 150 billion for the period 2011 to 2020, focused on sector of oil and gas in Brazil. The estimate was released by Morgan Stanley Research, one of the world’s largest investment banks, established in Brazil since 1997. An example of the revival of this sector is found in the state of Bahia. Among several projects aimed at shipbuilding, it is there in Bahia that construction is taking place on the ‘Estaleiro Enseada do Paraguaçu’ (EEP - Enseada do Paraguaçu Shipyard) - a private investment of about R$ 2.6 billion (US$ 1.4 billion), which includes three of Brazil’s main construction companies and a world leader in the area of shipbuilding, namely: Odebrecht, UTC Engenharia, OAS and Japan's Kawasaki, which later joined the consortium.

EEP joins the list of a number of shipyards that are being established in Brazil and that will, among other things, serve to address the demand for vessels at Petrobras. Kawasaki's participation ensures the use of the latest technology by the venture and the transferring of this knowledge to Brazilian engineers and technicians. The president of the EEP, Fernando Barbosa, said that the Japanese partner joins the consortium with a commitment to help build the latest, most modern equipment available in the area. To do so, Kawasaki signed an agreement to transfer technology. “They will bring us all their technology in manufacturing, project design, planning and for the training of people.”

Construction work began in May and the project will be operational in 2014. But in 2013, the shipyard will already be able to start part of its activities. At full steam, the shipyard will process 36,000 tons of steel per year. The venture’s entrepreneurs predict that the project will create three thousand direct jobs during its construction, five thousand after beginning to operate, besides ten thousand indirect jobs as a result of the project.

When the EEP is ready, the state will have gained one more site for the production of ships and oil drilling platforms, reviving the economy of Bahia’s ‘Recôncavo’ region. The State Government supports the venture paying for road infrastructure works as well as providing assistance in obtaining financing, which is provided by the federal government via the Merchant Marine Fund. Furthermore, as part of efforts to save and revive the shipbuilding industry, the state has established a Special Secretariat of the Port and Shipbuilding Industry (Seinp) which centralizes the state’s actions focused on enabling the development of new ventures in the area.

According to the Secretary of the Shipbuilding Industry of the State of Bahia, Carlos Costa, the new shipyard will have technology and capacity to meet the needs of the domestic and international markets. “The venture will be able to timely offer leading-edge equipment to all markets. The companies will work with all the technology and will meet not only orders of vessels for the civilian shipping industry, but also for the military industry. “Before it even started to operate, the shipyard has already received orders for six rigs for oil exploration. The units are part of a contract with Sete Brazil, a supplier to Petrobras. The venture’s entrepreneurs estimate annual revenues of R$ 600 million (US$ 324.3 million).

The complex is located in the city of Maragogipe (BA), located 42 kilometers from Salvador, on an area of 1.6 million m² of which 400 thousand m² will be set aside for environmental conservation. Besides having sheltered waters, the great depth of the canal will enable access by large vessels and is designed with the possibility of future expansions in mind. The first stage of the work has already been accomplished with the removal of vegetation, rescue of fauna and flora and earthworks, kicking off the initial interventions and preparation of the land for other works.

Among the maritime infrastructure works that will be performed, the most outstanding will be the construction of the dry dock; a plateau measuring 85 meters wide by 261 meters long and 14.8 meters deep. Another three quays will be built measuring 242 m, 270 m and 270 m in length, respectively. It is anticipated that the dredging of the canal will reach 3.5 million m³ with a subsequent landfill and grading services. Soil and foundations of external areas will be strengthened and will receive appropriate paving to handle heavy traffic and loads. The area will be able to support the manufacture and movement of naval blocks and offshore structures. These blocks will be manufactured in workshops built using metal structures, adding 15 thousand tons of structures. The constructed area, which also includes administrative buildings, totals up to 280,000 m².

Deployment of equipment

The works will employ a considerable amount of hoisting equipment and both vertical and horizontal transportation. Electromechanical industrial services will use equipment for handling heavy loads such as two Goliath cranes, three Jib cranes, besides hydraulic conveyors and overhead/gantry cranes.

In the shipbuilding sector, equipment to be employed will bear Kawasaki Heavy Industries technology which includes requirements such as pretreatment of plates and profiles, cutting and marking machines, a line for manufacturing of panels and a line for single-sided welding. This sector will produce sand-blasting and painting cabins, electrical systems and substations, control and security systems, utilities mains and networks (water, compressed air, fire-fighting system, industrial gases) and sewage/wastewater treatment.

From the initial stage of the construction works, the equipment being deployed includes a concrete mixer plant for the production of 120 m³/h, in addition to hydraulic excavators, a tipper truck, a wheeled 30-ton crane and a tower crane. At the dynamic compaction phase, 150-ton cranes and a 20t tamper will be added. For works in area of the sea, cranes of 150 tons and 100 tons will be used in addition to ‘cantitraveller’ equipment (a travelling cantilevered structure) for offshore foundations, 20 t gantries, dollies for moving of equipment and parts, and a hydromill cutter for excavating foundations.

Consortium

In order to avoid disorderly growth that could cause negative environmental and social impacts, great care is being taken in establishing the EEP - Enseada do Paraguaçu Shipyard. To comply with the proposals announced at a Public Hearing, priority will be given to hiring local labor from surrounding cities which include Maragogipe, Salinas da Margarida, São Roque, Nazaré, Vera Cruz, Itaparica and other municipalities in areas around the project so as to promote the development of the region of the shipyard.

The Consortium, under a partnership with Prominp - the Program for Mobilization of the National Oil and Natural Gas Industry and SENAI (National Service for Industrial Training), will implement a program for professional qualification of unskilled labor for work in civil construction in the region. The first group of students has already been selected with 25 youths that participate in the program.

According to the construction consortium, “the partnership aims to qualify and prepare citizens of the surrounding cities to meet the demands generated by the construction project and the idea is to promote the productive social inclusion of the community, strengthening ties and project’s commitment to the region's development, besides reducing the migration of workers from other regions of the country.” Prominp will be developed in cooperation with SENAI and its modules will have minimum class-hour load of 160 hours, with theoretical and practical classes at the job site. Following training, these professionals will be eligible to start in their activities. During this period of field activities, they will be monitored by the staff of ‘People and Organization’ via evaluations and individual interviews. Production leaders will also perform monitoring with a focus on the training and professional growth of these new professionals.

The consortium engaged in the project has conducted studies and licensing since 2008, holding meetings with the local communities to define actions to enable the inclusion of these people. Besides the classic environmental licensing, the program was also been licensed by the institute for the historical heritage through the IPHAN - Institute of National Historical and Artistic Heritage; the Palmares Foundation, since the project is located in Quilombola (Maroon) community; by the Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity in view of  its proximity to a federal protected area; by the state, since the region chosen is part of an Environmental Preservation Area (APA - Área de Preservação Ambiental) of the Baía de Todos-os-Santos.

Several actions are planned such as the reforestation of 40 hectares of native tropical Atlantic rainforest (ombrófila densa). The works include the reforestation of tracts of mangroves, riparian vegetation and springs that have been devastated in the region. According to the EPP, the investment includes a Program for Fishing Sustainability that involves continuous training of fishermen and shellfish gatherers, with technical monitoring of the activity and investment in equipment and maintenance to improve the production cycle of fishing and the fishery.

The environmental treatise is extensive, with environmental education activities and social communication in the region’s schools and in the surrounding communities. In depth research into the 29 Maroon communities surrounding the project are planned; the maintenance of the ‘Casa Samba de Santo Amaro’, which houses the largest collection of ‘samba de roda’ in the world which is listed for protection as heritage. The project includes innovative actions such as the execution of the 1st National Inventory of Cultural References in the municipalities around the EEP. And other actions are planned such as the recovery and restoration of monuments and buildings listed for protection by IPHAN.

The consortium is committed to performing a social and economic diagnosis of the Baía do Iguape, focused on conducting a census of the area, and to monitoring surface and underground water resources with the use of automatic probes and a network of piezometers. There will also be monthly monitoring of aquatic ecosystems (plankton, benthos, turtles, cetaceans, crustaceans, ichthyofauna, etc.). And the periodic monitoring of the physical characteristics of the water, with data on currents, turbidity, hydrodynamics and sediment dynamics, etc).

The program fulfills the requests made by local communities with the investments in the infrastructure of the Enseada do Paraguaçu community; with refurbishing, new equipment and landscaping in the city's central square; financial support to the Casa da Cultura de Saubara, and to other initiatives that seek to improve the quality of life of local communities such as the licensing of landfill in Salinas das Margaridas to be shared with the municipality.