Wilson Sons is doubling down on digital transformation, and the stakes couldn’t be higher. The Brazilian towage giant has just unveiled a cutting-edge training center in Santos, complete with high-fidelity tugboat simulators. This isn’t just about upskilling crews—it’s about rewriting the playbook for port operations.
The new facility, nestled in the Towage Operations Centre (COR), is a tech powerhouse. It simulates over 25 Brazilian ports and harbours, letting tugboat masters rehearse everything from routine ship assists to high-stakes emergencies. The hardware mirrors real-world tugs, with propulsion controls, winch operations, and radar displays—all feeding into a hyper-realistic virtual environment. Masters can now test manoeuvres in hurricane-force winds, fog-choked harbours, or any other nightmare scenario before setting foot on deck.
But here’s where it gets interesting. Wilson Sons isn’t just training for safety—it’s training for efficiency. The simulators include features that help masters optimise speed during transits, cutting fuel burn and emissions. This is where the rubber meets the road. If tugs can reduce idle speeds or fine-tune manoeuvres, the savings add up fast. And with Brazil’s ports handling some of the world’s largest vessels, even marginal gains in efficiency could reshape the logistics chain.
The training center is just one piece of Wilson Sons’ digital arsenal. Since 2011, its COR has been tracking every tug in its fleet in real time, using AIS data to allocate assets with surgical precision. In 2023, it added Artemis, a new analysis system that layers meteorological and oceanographic data onto vessel tracking. This isn’t just about knowing where a tug is—it’s about predicting where it needs to be, accounting for tides, currents, and wind.
“Continual tracking ensures maximum efficiency of our assets and adds an important layer of safety to the manoeuvres,” said Wilson Sons fleet and operations manager Pedro Lima. “By allocating the most suitable tugboat to meet client demands, at the right time and at the right speed, operations become more sustainable and with lower emissions.”
This data-driven approach is already paying off. Wilson Sons’ lost-time accident rate dropped to 0.47 incidents per million hours in the 12 months ending June 2025—below the global benchmark of 0.50. But the real test is whether this tech can scale. If Wilson Sons can prove that simulation training, real-time tracking, and predictive analytics deliver measurable gains in safety and efficiency, it could set a new standard for the industry.
The question is, who’s paying attention? For now, Wilson Sons is leading the charge. But if the results speak for themselves, expect others to follow. The race is on to see who can turn data into dollars—and decarbonisation.