Port of Santos begins new maintenance dredging to ensure channel depth

Dredging removes sediment from Barra to Alemoa to maintain appropriate depths, says APS (Alexsander Ferraz/AT)

Maintenance dredging of the waterway channel and berths at the Port of Santos will begin in the coming days and is expected to continue until the end of August. The Santos Port Authority (APS) estimates that between 300,000 and 500,000 cubic meters (m³) of sediment will be removed from Barra to Alemoa to maintain proper depths, with approximately 15 meters in the navigation channel, according to APS.

The dredging will be carried out in sections 1, 2, 3, and 4 of the estuary, from Barra to Alemoa, and at the berths of groups 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, and 7, in accordance with Operating License 1.382/2017. "It is a preventive effort to maintain the channel’s draft at 15 meters and the operational draft planned for each berth", APS stated. The depths of the berths vary between 10 meters and 14.5 meters.

Periods APS explained that maintenance dredging is carried out during periods of greater sediment accumulation, which are the summer, due to rainfall, and the winter, due to storm surges. The dredged material will be disposed of at the Ocean Disposal Polygon (PDO) Q7/Q4, located approximately 12 kilometers from the entrance to the Port of Santos. The area is licensed by the Instituto Brasileiro do Meio Ambiente e dos Recursos Naturais Renováveis (Ibama) to receive such sediment, according to the port authority.

Van Oord, the company contracted for the dredging, will carry out the sediment removal across the entire navigable area of the Port using the TSHD Utrecht dredger, which has a capacity of 18,300 m³. The same vessel, measuring 159.6 meters in length and 28 meters in width, was used during the previous campaign, held from November 2024 to January of this year.

Early renewal The contract with Van Oord was originally set to expire in March of this year, but APS chose to renew the agreement early in December 2023 for an additional two years. The contract is now valid through December 2025, with its value adjusted from R\$ 277.2 million to R\$ 290.6 million based on the Broad National Consumer Price Index (IPCA) for the period.

The agreement includes an early termination clause, allowing cancellation in the event the service is granted to the private sector through a public-private partnership (PPP) or another arrangement, which is of interest to APS.