The Companhia Docas do Estado de São Paulo (Codesp) increased by 40 centimeters, to 12,7 meters, the maximum operational draft allowed for ships in the port of Santos. At high tide, vessels will be able to enter with one meter more, that is, up to 13,7 meters of draft. The expansion was authorized by the Port Authority of São Paulo, based on a bathymetry (depth check) carried out in March. But the government's expectation is that the draft in part of the channel will be restored to 13,2 meters after a new survey.
The change, which took place yesterday, marks yet another chapter in the soap opera of dredging in the country's largest port. Originally, the maximum draft resulting from the dredging to deepen the port, a work tendered within the Growth Acceleration Program (PAC) by the Secretariat of Ports (SEP), was established at 13,2 meters. In January, due to lack of maintenance, section 1 of the channel (which was artificially divided into four segments for the work) silted up, forcing the draft to be reduced to 12,3 meters.
As stretch 1 is the entrance to the port, the limitation forced the same reduction in stretches 2 and 3. In February, Codesp carried out emergency dredging at critical points in stretch 1, using an existing contract surplus at the time.
Section 4 suffered more difficulties and still has a maximum draft of 11,2 meters, limiting the loading capacity of the companies located there compared to competitors. Two of the largest terminals located at this point in the channel, Brasil Terminal Portuário (BTP) and Ecoporto Santos, were in charge of contracting the work at the critical points to speed up the process, since the contract with the consortium that won the SEP bid ended.
The Draga Brasil consortium won the bid to lower and maintain the depth of the entire channel in the port of Santos at 15 meters in 2009. Once the contract was finalized, the objective was not achieved. Bathymetry showed that the consortium did not maintain the design depth, so much so that they were validated by the Navy between 14,5 meters and 14,9 meters (there is a safety margin between the draft and the depth determined by the Navy in each port). An administrative process that has not yet been completed determines possible responsibilities and consequences.
The budget for the work, which also included widening the canal, was estimated at R$ 203,6 million. Draga Brasil's offer was R$ 199,5 million. The amendment to the original contract due to the removal of contaminated material discovered during the work increased the value of R$ 37,3 million, totaling R$ 236,9 million. According to the SEP, however, only R$ 187,9 million were paid to the consortium.
Source: Valor Econômico
By Fernanda Pires
