O Porto de Paranaguá

Resumo

The author, begins by stressing the importance of the port of Paranaguá as compared with the other ports in the south of Brazil, noting that they are situated so close together that problems inevitably arise in connection with the improvement of port works and the sluggish flow of shipping.

            The natural conditions for the construction of the port of Paranaguá are analyzed and it is observed that the coastline of Paraná state is indented by a deep ria forming the long narrow bay of Paranaguá, ending in that of Antonina and having two northern offshoots, separated by islands, the bays of Pinheiros and Laranjeiras. The bay of Paranaguá is entered by a northern and a southern channel, and attention is drawn to the problems raised by the silting up of the bay, not only by the ocean currents, but also by the material carried down by the rivers which dissect the great wan of the Serra do Mar interposed between the Paraná littoral and the first plateau.

            Proceeding to an examination of the hinterland and its progressive enlargement, the author points out the disadvantages encountered initially by the port and blocking its expansion, such as for instance the fact that the plateau was colonized via São Paulo and not from the sea coast, which meant that the mainlines of transportation were traced from north do south, i.e. from São Paulo to Rio Grande do Sul. Not until Curitiba was founded did they begin to converge towards this town, now the state capital; this led to the building of the road and railway over the Serra da Graciosa, as the Serra do Mar is called locally, and down to the sea. The organization of the transport system in function of Curitiba, channelling the traffic funnel-wise to the port of Paranaguá, abruptly extended its area of influence to the whole of the state of Paraná, the northeast of Santa Catarina and the south of São Paulo.

            Antonina existed as a port long before Paranaguá, for it stood at the head of the bay and the mouth of an estuary, but the heyday of its prosperity was linked to the export of timber and mattee tea and therefore belongs to a past century. Even so, it never developed in to an organized port, but remained a series of private wharves.

            As the coffee plantations spread from São Paulo southwards to the state of Paraná, the distance to the port of Santos increased and it was found to be more direct to ship the product through the port of Paranaguá. This was the start of its vertiginous development into the chief port of Paraná, attracting the interest of the Federal Government which proceeded to its organization in 1935. By now, Paranaguá has risen to the position of second most active port in the coffee export trade from Brazil, surpassing Rio de Janeiro.

            The construction of a quay for unloading inflamables at the Rocio also enhanced the value of Paranaguá to the import trade, and for the last few years all the supplies of these commodities for the state of Paraná have been routed through this port.

            By means of a number of maps and graphs, the author brings out clearly the way in which the port began, evolved and reached its present state of development, showing finally the effects that this has had on the town of Paranaguá. The reason that the urban development has not kept pace with the expansion of the port is seen to lie in the retention of control over the coffee trade by the port of Santos, according no more than the status of "transit-town" to Paranaguá for shipments of this commodity. The other functions that might be performed by Paranaguá are taken over by Curitiba, which, by reason of its proximity to the seaboard, dominates all the trade in the lowlands.