Abstract
One of the main cargo corridors of the Brazilian West region is the Paraguay River. Currently, the Paraguay River Waterway moves more than seven million tons of cargo, being the second largest waterway for cargo movement in Brazil. However, for the uick and safe transport of goods it is essential to have a proper, systematic and complete mapping of the river bed. This work, in charge of the Brazilian Navy and dating back to the Nautical Cartographic Basic Plan of 1935, is performed with the construction of oficial nautical documents, aiming the navigation safety. These cartographic documents, called Official Nautical Charts, are the result from the mapping process, originated from the collection of bathymetric data on specific spots. This collection used always the most modern technologies available and recently, single beam echo-sounders and accurate positioners. Today new technologies are available, including the multi-beam echo-sounder, equipment with several advantages, allowing, among others, the full coverage of the riverbed. This article describes this paradigm shift for the collection of bathymetric data in Paraguay River basin, presenting the preliminary findings and conclusions from the use of this technology
Highlights
The Brazilian National Waterways Transportation Agency (ANTAQ) (2010) denominated as “Paraguay River Waterway” the section of the Paraguay River in the Brazilian national territory between Cáceres/Mato Grosso State and the mouth of the Apa River/Mato Grosso do Sul State, covering approximately 1,270 kilometers
Being one of the main cargo corridors in the Brazilian West region, the Paraguay River Waterway currently moves more than seven million tons of cargo, being the second largest cargo handling waterway in Brazil
An example of the current processing is shown in figure 4, extracted from the analysis of a survey made in May 2016 by the Navy Hydrography Center: Referring to the multi-beam surveys, they have already been carried out in approximately 100 km of the channel from the Paraguay River, and data from the adjacent Nautical Charts were sent to the Hydrography Center, responsible for the construction and updating of these maps in Brazil
Summary
The Brazilian National Waterways Transportation Agency (ANTAQ) (2010) denominated as “Paraguay River Waterway” the section of the Paraguay River in the Brazilian national territory between Cáceres/Mato Grosso State and the mouth of the Apa River/Mato Grosso do Sul State, covering approximately 1,270 kilometers. Being one of the main cargo corridors in the Brazilian West region, the Paraguay River Waterway currently moves more than seven million tons of cargo, being the second largest cargo handling waterway in Brazil. This waterway, besides draining the agricultural production of the western Brazilian States,, serves as a natural connection to the sea for Bolivia and Paraguay. In 2014, the Paraguay River Waterway handled totally 7.1 million tons of cargo (ANTAQ, 2015), as seen in Table 1: Source: ANTAQ (2015). The Brazilian Strategic Waterway Plan, a document prepared by the Ministry for Transports (2013), foresees a total amount of general cargoes of 10,871,000t in 2023 and 14,883,000t in 2031 transported on the Waterway
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