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Colombia invests in the safety of its ports and navigational waters

The Colombian Ministry of Defence and Navy have improved the operational conditions and safety in the countries with two most important ports: Buenaventura on Colombia's Pacific coast and Cartagena in the Caribbean. DIMAR (Colombia's National Maritime Authority, responsible for safety at sea and inland waterways) has carried out an investment in more than a hundred new buoys equipped with the latest technology in self contained LED lights. The buoys are equipped with a new generation of satellite monitoring allowing real time status tracking, maximising service levels and placing these two Colombian ports at the forefront of AtoN infrastructure worldwide. Almarin, leading a consortium of Spanish, Portuguese and Canadian companies together with the collaboration of local experts Iner Consultores, supplied and carried out the turnkey installation of the 106 ‘Guia W’ model buoys.

Buenaventura is a technically complex port with more than 25km of navigable waters, 4m tides and 200m narrow sections that generate strong currents. The beaconing of this port has been a challenge due to the increase volume of goods attracting larger vessels with restricted manoeuvrability. Buenaventura holds a strategic role as Colombia's main channel for trade with Asia positioning it as the Colombia's most important port on this coast.

Cartagena, an iconic port in the Caribbean, had a relatively well developed infrastructure of aids to navigation primarily composed of high maintenance steel buoys. The change has provided for buoys with a greater daytime visibility and nominal night range as well as lowering maintenance costs. The new buoys have an impact resistant, unsinkable foam elastomer hull and stainless steel superstructure.

The project helps the transformation of these ports into a main channel for Colombian trade, with safety as a fundamental element for the development, prevention of disasters and improving the countries competitiveness. DIMAR has announced that this is the first stage in a medium term project to improve the aids to navigation in all Colombian ports. In conjunction with Colombia's Navy its ultimate goal is to raise the standards of safety in Colombian navigable waters, an unprecedented project that includes the implementation of the national system of Vessel Traffic Management and National Oceanic Monitoring, guaranteeing the best navigation conditions for international trade, fishing, recreational boating and marine exploration for minerals and hydrocarbons offshore.