Brazil's Santos port to deploy digital twin in partnership with Itaipu

Brazil's Santos port, South America's busiest, will develop a digital twin for its maritime and land operations in partnership with PTI, the tech arm of the Itaipu hydro plant.

The move marks the strengthening of a team-up between the two state-controlled entities and follows an announcement this month by Santos port authority APS, with PTI, of the deployment of a private 5G network within the port perimeter.

The digital twin project began in late 2024 although the contract formalizing the partnership was published in the official gazette on February 13.

The agreement between the parties, inked on February 7, is for five years and comprises joint investments of nearly 60mn reais (US$10.5mn), of which over 56mn reais will come from APS.

In a statement, APS said the project will lead to the creation of an accurate virtual replica of the navigation channel and much of the port's physical infrastructure. 

The initiative is part of the port's modernization drive and aims to optimize operations, cut costs and increase safety, added the authority.

The project

The port's digital twin will be used as a virtual, 3D and interactive replica to allow real-time monitoring of vessel traffic, cargo movement and use of berths.

"On it, it will be possible to simulate various scenarios, such as the introduction of new routes or operational changes, without directly impacting port activities," said APS.

The project will be developed in stages, starting with a detailed scan of the port's objects, main assets and buildings, including strategic properties and the Itatinga power plant that supplies the terminals with its transmission lines.

From this scanning and database, the digital model will be built to allow the monitoring and simulation of scenarios.

Digital twin technology is already used in large ports around the world, such as Rotterdam (Netherlands), Houston (US) and Tianjin (China).

In Brazil, national oil giant Petrobras is expanding digital twins of some of its platforms. 

In Petrobras' case, the model for the virtual replicas was developed by Brazilian company ESSS, headquartered in Florianópolis, Santa Catarina state.

Itaipu

At Itaipu's tech park, R&D projects that use various techniques and technologies key to the creation of digital twins have been developed for some years.

Based on this expertise, PTI developed 3D models for the Itaipu power plant's generating units.

The model was integrated into SOMA (asset-oriented monitoring system), Itaipu dam's core management system.

That virtual replica was the outcome of a partnership between Itaipu, the federal government's center for development of power sector technologies (Cepel), the dam structure competence center and company AIS Ambientes Virtuais.

AIS Ambientes Virtuais was founded in 2013 by university students from Western Paraná State University and incubated as a startup at the PTI. 

AIS is likely to flagship the development of the port's twin.