Brazilian Navy News

The Brazilian Navy said on Tuesday it had seized 3.6 metric tons of cocaine on a boat off the coast of northeastern Pernambuco state, in the largest single off-shore capture of the drug by Brazil.In a statement, the Navy said it had captured a small motor boat used for transporting people and cargo along the coast with five crew members heading to Africa.

Wärtsilä announced it has been tapped to supply the main power generation and power conversion system for a new 103.16m Antarctic Support Vessel being built for the Brazilian Navy at Brazil’s Estaleiro Jurong Aracruz shipyard.The new Polar Vessel – Navio Polar Almirante Saldanha (NPo) – will be operated by the Brazilian Navy and is of strategic importance for maintaining the Brazilian presence in the Antarctic continent and ensuring the continuity of the scientific research that…

Brazil sank a decommissioned aircraft carrier in the Atlantic Ocean off its northeast coast, the Brazilian Navy said, despite warnings from environmentalists that the rusting 1960s French-built ship would pollute the sea and the marine food chain.The 32,000-tonne carrier had been floating offshore for three months since Turkey refused it entry to be scrapped there because it was an environmental hazard and the ship was towed back to Brazil.The carrier was scuttled in a "planned and controlled sinking" late on Friday…

A decommissioned 32,000-ton 1960's aircraft carrier has been floating off Brazil's shore for three months since Turkey refused it entry to be scrapped there because the rusting ship is an environmental hazard.The Brazilian Navy's Sao Paulo carrier had been towed by tugs to Europe but did not get past the Gibraltar straits, and was returned across the Atlantic.The Navy has acknowledged the ship is a risk to the environment and could sink, so it has not been allowed into Brazilian…

Canada’s Irving Shipbuilding has cited Thordon Bearings as one of a number of partners playing a pivotal role in ensuring the Royal Canadian Navy’s (RCN) new Arctic and Offshore Patrol Ships (AOPS) are capable of environmentally sustainable operations.The first two in a series of six twin-screw vessels entrusted to Irving Shipbuilding, have been put to water with Thordon’s COMPAC water lubricated propeller shaft bearings, which the shipbuilder says are “environmentally progressive” resulting in “zero risk of pollution”.In a recent article…

The 340-meter-long very large ore carrier (VLOC) Stellar Banner has been scuttled off the coast of Brazil after being declared a total loss due to extensive hull damage suffered during a grounding incident.The 300,660 dwt vessel, owned and operated by the South Korean company Polaris Shipping, ran aground while carrying iron ore bound for China from Vale's terminal in Maranhão in February. The 2016-built Stellar Banner began listing heavily but did not capsize, and all 20 crew members were evacuated from the ship.The ship had been refloated and towed to deeper water after 145…

A 340-meter-long very large ore carrier (VLOC) that ran aground off the coast of Brazil earlier this year will be scuttled due to the extent of hull damage suffered as a result of the incident, Brazilian authorities said.The 300,660 dwt Stellar Banner, owned and operated by the South Korean company Polaris Shipping, ran aground while carrying iron ore bound for China from Vale's terminal in Maranhão in February. The 2016-built ship began listing heavily but did not capsize, and…

A consortium formed by Germany’s Thyssenkrupp AG and Brazilian planemaker Embraer SA signed a deal on Thursday to deliver four frigates to Brazil’s navy between 2025 and 2028, the companies said in a statement.The contract signed in Rio de Janeiro is part of Brazil’s drive to modernize its navy so it can patrol off-shore resources in the Atlantic, such as Brazil’s vast pre-salt oil reserves.The companies did not disclose the price tag. The Brazilian navy website said the four-ship program will cost about $2 billion.Last year…

Thirteen people are confirmed dead and another 28 are thought to be missing after a river boat sank in the northern Brazilian state of Amapa, the state government said on Monday.Another 46 people were rescued after the sinking of the vessel late on Saturday roughly 100 kilometers (62 miles) from the municipality of Laranjal do Jari in the Amazon rainforest, the government said in a statement on its website.Local news website G1 reported the vessel was making a roughly 36-hour journey between the cities of Santana in Amapa state and Santarem in neighboring Para.

The International Tanker Owners Pollution Federation (ITOPF) is currently on-site in north-east Brazil attending the recent oil spill that has contaminated approximately 2,500 km of coastline in nine states.The source of the pollution remains unknown, although the Brazilian government has recently reported that they suspect a tanker passing along its coast in late July as being the polluter."Our involvement was requested directly by IBAMA, the Brazilian Institute of Environment and Renewable Natural Resources, on 16th September 2019, a couple of weeks after oil was first spotted washing up on shore," the not-for-profit marine ship pollution response advisers said.ITOPF is normally requested on-site by a shipowner or their insurer…

Brazil is a country with a coastline over 7,000 km long, bathed to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. Along this coastline and offshore is where the country develops its fisheries activities, maritime trade and the exploitation of a variety of biological and mineral resources. The incredible environmental and financial wealth found in these waters, and under the seabed gave way to the term - Blue Amazon – relating to the Amazon Jungle. The Blue Amazon officially covers an area of 3.5 million square kilometers. However, Brazil is calling on the United Nations to expand its borders to the limits of the continental shelf, which should raise…

On December 13th, Brazilian company WEG Electric Equipment, and Dutch company Praxis Automation Technology, both leading companies within their respective fields, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to support the bid of Damen Shipyards Group and Saab for the construction of four corvettes for the Brazilian Navy. For the Tamandaré class corvettes bid, Praxis and WEG will be partners for the supply of the complete Integrated Platform Management System (IPMS).The signing took place at Damen Schelde Naval Shipbuilding in the Netherlands and was witnessed by staff from Damen…

Brazil has more than doubled the number of risky ship-to-ship oil transfers this year, but its monitoring of such offshore maneuvers is lax, to a point where a July 2017 collision between two tankers was not reported, according to a Reuters review of government and shipping records.Transfers are projected to keep rising as the country's deep-water discoveries have lured major companies including Exxon Mobil Corp and Royal Dutch Shell Plc to recent offshore auctions. During these maneuvers, ships pull alongside one another and oil is transferred to a vessel via high-pressure hoses.

For a long time there has been a deficit of trained maritime officers in Brazil, as for decades the only accredited training institutes were run by the Brazilian Navy, where a very limited number of prospective maritime deck and engine officers could be trained at its two training institutes in the country. That's all changing now with the Institute of Nautical Sciences (ICN) leading the way.With the discovery of the pre-salt in 2007 and the continued growth of the maritime and offshore sectors, the lack of qualified Brazilian officers became acute. For many years, and even today, most offshore captains and officers are foreigners, while there is a more significant number of local captains and officers in the merchant fleet.

Wilson Sons Estaleiros has delivered the third Damen designed ASD Tug 2411 to SAAM SMIT Towage in Brazil. The vessel is part of a four-vessel order, the final unit of which the shipyard is on track to deliver according to schedule in November this year.Damen has partnered with Wilson Sons for over 20 years. Under the arrangement of the relationship, Wilson Sons builds vessels using a Damen design, engineering and materials package. The delivery later this year of the final vessel of the SAAM SMIT order will mark the 91st Damen-designed vessel built by Wilson Sons.

In order to meet the needs of the Brazilian Navy, Damen Schelde Naval Shipbuilding and Saab come together to develop the project that will supply four Tamandaré Class corvettes.Damen is a Dutch company and a global leader in shipbuilding that has supplied over 6,000 vessels. Over 20 navies throughout the world operate Damen-built vessels. The company will be responsible for supplying the ship Sigma 10514, proven platform that will be adapted to meet the demands of the client.Saab is a Swedish company with more than 70 years of experience in the defense industry.

Naval Group performed a new launch of the F21 torpedo in the frame of the Artémis program led by the French Defence Procurement Agency (Direction Générale de l’Armement -DGA). In the medium term, the DGA aims to equip all the French Navy's submarines with this heavy torpedo. This launch was performed early May from a nuclear-powered attack submarine (SSN). The F21 was launched under the authority of the DGA in a DGA Missiles Testing’s underwater acoustic range off the Hyères coast.

The MOD has agreed to sell HMS Ocean to the Government of Brazil after 20 years of service. Sold to the Brazilian Navy for around £84M ($117m), the profit generated from the sale will be reinvested in defence at a time when the Royal Navy is being strengthened with two types of brand new frigates and two huge aircraft carriers. HMS Queen Elizabeth, which will eventually take on the role as the nation’s new flagship, recently set sail from the port of Gibraltar carrying two Chinooks and four Merlin helicopters as she readies for helicopter trials at sea.

A large South Korean cargo ship with 24 crew on board is believed to have sunk in the Atlantic Ocean after making an SOS call, News agencies reported quoting the Uruguayan navy. The Stellar Daisy was missing after making its last contact in the South Atlantic about 2,500 kilometres (1,500 miles) from shore, South Korea's foreign ministry and news reports said on Sunday. On Friday, a crew member sent a text saying the 312m-long (1024ft) Stellar Daisy freighter was taking on water. The Uruguayan navy alerted merchant ships in the area, which began a search. Two Filipino crew members were rescued floating in a life raft on Saturday, but other lifeboats and rafts found in the area were empty, South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported.

Naval experts from around the world are meeting in Cartagena, Colombia, for the Operations and Technology (OPTECH) South 2017 conference. The event is being conducted by the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School’s (NPS) Littoral Operations Center (LOC), supported by the Office of Naval Research-Global and the Colombian Naval Science and Technology Office and Swedish defense company Saab. The littoral is the complex “near shore” environment where hydrography, geography, commerce, fishing…

NGOs and trade unions in Brazil have criticized the state-run Petrobras’ end-of-life fleet management by dumping toxic ships on South Asian beaches. The Brazilian Confederação Nacional dos Trabalhadores em Transportes Aquaviários e Aéreos, na Pesca e nos Portos (CONTTMAF) trade union federation and its member SINDMAR (Sindicato Nacional dos Oficiais da Marinha Mercante) have recently criticized the shipbreaking practices of Transpetro, the oil and gas transportation subsidiary of the Brazilian petroleum corporation Petrobras, majority-owned by the State. In the last five years, more than twenty vessels owned by the oil and gas giant have been dismantled on the beaches of India and Pakistan, where shipbreaking activities endanger both workers and the environment.

Maritime security experts have met in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (15-17 June) to share expertise on how cooperation on maritime surveillance monitoring and communication systems in the South Atlantic can benefit countries in west and central Africa. Delegates from 11 African countries, the Brazilian Navy and various African regional organizations and other countries shared their experiences and challenges in enhancing maritime security, with a view to improving maritime security through better maritime governance, maritime situation awareness and cooperation across the South Atlantic. The meeting also discussed the institutional framework required to foster maritime governance and security in the South Atlantic.

Cinthya Lopes has joined Simwave, the maritime simulation center in Rotterdam, as simulator operator. Prior to joining Simwave she worked in a variety of roles in the field of maritime training at the Brazilian Navy and Kongsberg. After finishing her studies in her home country of Brazil at the Merchant Marine Academy, Lopes completed her Post Graduate Program in Conference Interpretation at PUC Rio. Lopes started her career as a Navigation Officer at Norsul Shipping Company.