The work of Chimene dos Santos and Pedro Dario Pereira Neto, who represents the port activity, is exposed to employees of the public company and visitors.

Until the week leading up to Christmas, scale models of boats made by local artisans adorn the hall of the Taguaré Palace, administrative headquarters of Paraná Ports, in Paranaguá. The work of Chimene dos Santos and Pedro Dario Pereira Neto, who represents the port activity, is exposed to employees of the public company and visitors.

They do not know each other personally, but besides art as a hobby, creativity, and passion for boats, Chimene and Pedro also have a common professional activity: both work in Paranaguá Port.

Chimene dos Santos is 34 years old. And the inspiration to start making boats with ice cream sticks and glue came after the death of her father, Levi dos Santos, in 2016. The scale model was a way she found to honor him. "My father was a long-time longshoreman. And when I make the scale model, it's like I'm closer to him," she says.

The port work passion also gave "a little push" to Chimene's art. "I took an offshore platform assistant course. And my first scale model was an oil submersible, which I built for classes. It was completely made of ice-lolly sticks," she says.

She remembers it was about seven months before it was over. This first piece (which earned her an award in the course) was given to the company where she studied. But then came others that are now on display at Paraná port.

"I made a ferry with crane and crawler, just like the one I worked when I worked in the expansion works of the TCP yard; a Portuguese caravel, in honor of my origins; a boat, which is still a caravel, which I have reformed; and the portraits of us," she explains.

Chimene currently works as a quality inspector. Onboard the ships, it’s possible to see that the cellars can receive the cargo. "I'm a little short of time, but I keep having a lot of ideas now that I'm working onboard again. That's a lot of details. I want to make a freighter, a ship loader, a tugboat, a crane with grab," she says.

NOTCH – The art of Pedro Dario Pereira Neto, 52, is made of raw wood. It is also not the main economic activity of Pedro, who operates in Coamo Agroindustrial Cooperativa, in the logistics area. And before going to the office, from 2000 to 2018, he had worked aboard the ships chartered by the company, with the supervision of shipments.

"The scale models started as a hobby, but today they complement my income. I started with a passion for navigation, for the sea. The first was at the age of 15," he says. But at the time, according to Peter, it was something simpler. Nothing with the scale and perfection they have today.

"This process of making the ship in scale began in the year 2000. At the end of the operation of Samos Skyship, the first ship chartered by Coamo in Paranaguá Port, I got the photo of the maritime agent. Analyzing the images, I remembered that I had a plank of wood in my car, I thought about making and made a ship, carving on the wood", he highlights. It took two months to complete this first job.

In raw wood, he carves the hull of the ship. Then, it covers with plastic mass and continues to make the details with wood, plastic, and other materials. "All the material that I think can be used in the models, I keep," he says.

Now he is testing a new technique: resin, which should further streamline and perfect art. Pedro has made vessels such as those of the Navy, frigates, submarines, tugboats, and even an American aircraft carrier (USS Nimitz) for the amusement of his sons Leonardo and Guilherme, who collect fighter planes.

"The importance of exposing my work here is that everyone can have access to craftsmanship, to art itself. Being our work the port, dealing with ships, it is very gratifying that other people know that here in Paranaguá there are people who like it so much that even make art linked to the port", says Pedro.