Questões

The main issues of the Brazilian port system

Since the beginning of the privatization of the Brazilian ports in 1995, the lessee companies of container terminals have invested approximately USD 1 billion acquisition of modern equipment, physical infrastructure, training of manpower and infrastructure.

Particularly after the injection of resources by the Federal Government through the Growth Acceleration Program (PAC), the situation at the Brazilian ports started to improve.

Part of the dredging works in the main Brazilian ports are finished. With the sea deeper along the ports’ area, it is estimated that around 30% of the vessels worldwide that could not dock in Brazil before, now can.

But what used to be an issue at the sea, now it is an issue at the land. The logistical problems of access are evident, the bottleneck of access from the cargo container terminals generate unproductive periods, which are highly detrimental to the foreign trade and financial activity of Brazil. It is a fact that the rail network and roads in the vicinity of the ports are insufficient.

Another great matter about the Brazilian ports is the bureaucracy. Besides making everything more expensive, slowness in the Brazilian ports invented a truly “congestion at sea”. Every ship that arrives in the country waits at least 5.5 days to have the goods delivered by agencies such as IRS, the National Sanitary Surveillance Agency (ANVISA), the Ministry of Agriculture and the Docks. The world average is three days. 

In Brazil, the organs responsible for clearance of goods run only during business hours. It is the only country among the world’s major economies, which does not have these services available 24 hours.

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A rare plant has reappeared after more than a century in hiding.

The pinkish-flowered plant, known as grass-poly, was found growing on the banks of an old farmland pond in Norfolk.

The mystery species "came back from the dead" after seeds submerged in the mud were disturbed during work to restore the pond.

The seeds of the plant remained buried in the mud, like a "time capsule". When willows were pulled out to restore the pond, this disturbed the soil and let in light, allowing the seeds to germinate.

 "There's no oxygen, it's very dark, and it's perfect for preserving seeds," says Prof Sayer, who is part of UCL's Pond Restoration Research Group. The discovery shows plants believed extinct can be brought "back to life" with good conservation, he added.

Fonte: adaptado de https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-55104153

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Arecibo Observatory will be demolished

      Arecibo’s days are done. After two support cables failed in recent months, the radio observatory’s 305-meter-wide dish is damaged beyond repair, the National Science Foundation announced on November 19. It will be decommissioned and dismantled.

     The telescope, famous for appearances in movies like GoldenEye and Contact, consists of a wide dish to collect radio waves from space and focus them into detectors housed in a dome suspended above the dish.

     In August, one of the cables that holds up the dome slipped out of a socket and punched a hole in the dish. Then a second cable unexpectedly broke on November 6. If a third cable were to break, it could send the platform holding up the dome swinging, or the whole structure could collapse. 

     The NSF determined that there was no safe way to repair the telescope. 

Adaptado de https://www.sciencenews.org/article/arecibo-telescope-observatory-icon-puerto-rico-science-demolished.