Federal Government evaluates additional dredging contract for Itajaí-Navegantes

Navigation channel in Santa Catarina is experiencing sedimentation (Maurício Martins/AT)

The Federal Government will assess whether the access channel to the Itajaí-Navegantes port complex in Santa Catarina will require additional dredging beyond the service already provided for under the current maintenance contract. According to National Ports Secretary Alex Sandro de Ávila, the assessment is that the volume of sediment is above normal levels.

The Ministry of Ports and Airports (MPor) has scheduled a technical meeting this Thursday (24), in Brasília, with the Itajaí Port team to analyze the data and determine whether additional intervention will be necessary. “We will assess whether we will need any additional measures, beyond maintenance dredging, to ensure the channel remains operational. We may eventually contract some additional type of dredging”, Ávila said.

The secretary spoke to A Tribuna at the 2º Encontro Porto & Mar, organized by Grupo Tribuna on Tuesday at Píer Mauá, the cruise terminal in Rio de Janeiro.

Problems

The condition of the access channel has raised concerns among the port sector in Santa Catarina. Sedimentation has reduced water depths and has been affecting navigation. Last week, Itajaí Port Superintendent Artur Antunes Pereira told A Tribuna that heavy rainfall and a significant increase in the flow of the Itajaí-Açu River had increased the amount and deposition of sediment.

“We are going through an adverse period in which the climate effects closely associated with El Niño are changing sedimentation conditions. We have a series of climate events and severe weather conditions, and Itajaí is located in a geographic area where sea currents are already very strong”, Ávila explained.

The secretary pointed out that Itajaí Port is locally managed but is legally linked to the Companhia das Docas do Estado da Bahia (Codeba), which is affiliated with the Federal Government. He stressed that there is a maintenance dredging contract in place and that the service is up to date. The question is whether the exceptional conditions observed in the channel will require a greater volume of dredging than the amount contracted.

“Given the consequences of the climate events this year, we have noticed that the situation is outside the ordinary. The impression is that there is a greater volume (of sediment) than normal. We will conduct this assessment.”

While seeking to address the immediate navigation problem, the Government is close to completing the process to grant the channel to the private sector. Itajaí is expected to become the country's second waterway access concession, after Paranaguá (PR). According to Ávila, the project has already received approval from MPor, the National Waterway Transport Agency (Antaq), and the Federal Court of Accounts (TCU).

Public notice

According to the secretary, the process is nearing completion of the procedures required for publication of the public notice. After that, the documentation will return to Antaq so that the agency can set the date for the auction.

“It is no longer a bureaucratic or analytical stage. It is simply a matter of completing the pre-bidding procedures. We are in the process of completing the legal departments' opinion so that we can make the public notice public. This is a standard procedure in all (auctions).”

In August, the expectation announced by Antaq itself was that the public notice would be published by September. At the time, the process was already undergoing legal review. The Federal Government views the concession as a way to provide greater predictability for dredging and navigation conditions in a channel that has been affected by recurring sedimentation problems.

“We should, in the coming days, complete this joint legal opinion through the Ministry's Office of the Attorney General. It prepares this joint opinion, sends it back, and Antaq sets the date for the auction. So, this should take place in the coming days.”

Ávila compared Itajaí with Paranaguá, the first port channel concession carried out by the Federal Government. As chairman of the Board of Directors of Portos do Paraná, he said he follows the operation of the model on a monthly basis.

“Paranaguá was the first. We have already done it, and the concession is already operating. So, we have a port there that is extremely satisfied, and the port community is extremely satisfied.”