Port of Itajaí Seeks More Tugboats as El Niño-Driven River Surge Threatens Navigation
Cubierto por 3 fuentesPublicado
- jornal portuarioPorto de Itajaí solicita reforço no uso de rebocadores para garantir segurança da navegação diante dos efeitos do El Niño
- datamar newsPort of Itajaí Seeks More Powerful Tugboats as Currents Intensify Amid El Niño
- jornal portuarioPorto de Itajaí pede reforço de rebocadores diante de correntezas associadas ao El Niño
- agencia infraCom pico em novembro, El Niño já causa transtornos para cargas em Itajaí
- agencia infraPorto de Itajaí retoma praticabilidade total após fim de restrições
- jornal portuarioCapitania dos Portos declara praticabilidade total da barra do Porto de Itajaí
The Itajaí Port Authority (SPI), in Santa Catarina, Brazil, sent an official letter on Tuesday, October 13, to the Itajaí Port Captaincy requesting an increase in tugboat use during vessel entry and departure maneuvers in the Itajaí-Açu River channel. The measure aims to enhance navigational safety amid rising river flow and stronger currents, conditions linked to the effects of the El Niño climate phenomenon.
Currents up to seven times stronger
According to the port administration, in recent weeks currents up to seven times stronger than levels considered safe for navigation have been recorded, complicating vessel entry, departure and berthing maneuvers. For this reason, the SPI deemed the number and power of the tugboats currently in use insufficient and requested a review of the minimum requirements for units, power and bollard pull to ensure greater operational safety. The port is also moving forward with the installation of a new hydrodynamic and meteo-oceanographic monitoring system, featuring at least six stations distributed across the five operational stretches of the waterway access, which will allow real-time tracking of parameters such as currents, tides, waves, winds, visibility and rainfall.
Port Captaincy lifted restrictions
Two days after the request, on Thursday, October 15, at 3:40 p.m., the Itajaí Port Captaincy Delegation officially announced that the port's bar was fully navigable, allowing vessel entry and departure maneuvers to resume without the restrictions that had been in place until then. The decision was made by the Maritime Authority in accordance with item 0418 of the Rules and Procedures of the Santa Catarina Port Captaincy (NPCP-SC, 1st Revision). The SPI clarified that it will continue monitoring the navigability conditions of the access channel together with the Maritime Authority and the rest of the port community.
Impacts since June, peak expected in November
Weather events linked to El Niño have been affecting Itajaí since June, with channel closures starting in August, although the peak impact is expected in November, with the phenomenon projected to last through March of next year. The channel's normal average flow rate is 250 liters per second, but due to heavy rainfall it reached 1,700 liters per second in late September. The latest non-navigability notice was issued in early October, and although the channel reopened the following day, maneuvers remained subject to the safety conditions verified for each operation, affecting access to terminals such as JBS and Portonave and leading to port call omissions that are rippling through the entire logistics chain.
