Ports of Paraná intensifies maritime inspection in the port area

The port security unit of Portos do Paraná (UASP) has intensified maritime inspections of counter boarding, when a ship docks alongside of another.  The inspection now takes place 24 hours a day along the entire pier, from the east end of the Paranaguá Container Terminal (TCP) to the west end, where the inflammables pier is located.

The purpose of the inspection round is to inspect clandestine vessels that are close to the wharf during loading and unloading and to provide guidance to the ship’s crew in order to intensify security in the port area.

The measure was implemented based on a determination by CONPORTOS (the national commission for public security in ports, terminals, and waterways). According to UASP director Major César Kamakawa, the vessels must remain at a distance of at least 200 meters from the port’s pier.

“Sometimes people venture there for fishing activities. Taking advantage of this exact situation, criminals who are linked to organized crime us this moment to their benefit to load drugs into the hulls of ships”, explains the major.

Eventually, when berthed, the ships lower the port ladders on the side opposite from the dock to provide access to the ship’s deck. “Without this inspection by water, these loadings and unloadiings via these ladders, sometimes illegally, could be taking place with the support of smaller vessels that are contracted for this purpose”, he explains.

The ship’s ladder can also be used by crew members to clandestinely embark or disembark from the ship, or for inserting undeclared goods of dubious origin into the vessel which could even be part of international trafficking.

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