São Francisco do Sul Completes Maintenance Dredging at Inner Harbor

The Port of São Francisco do Sul, in the Brazilian state of Santa Catarina, has completed a new phase of maintenance work in its inner harbor, the internal berthing and maneuvering area. The work was carried out by the Belgian dredger Galileo Galilei, which removed 170,000 cubic meters of sediment from the seabed to preserve the 14-meter depth required for port operations.

The intervention covered an area of 133,000 square meters, equivalent to about 20 soccer fields according to Brazilian media. The dredged sediment was deposited offshore, at a site authorized by environmental authorities located 23 kilometers from the port. The project required an investment of R$ 8 million, equivalent to roughly USD 1.5 million, funded entirely through the Port Authority's own resources.

The Secretary of Ports, Airports and Railways (Spaf), Ivan Amaral, highlighted that the completion of the work demonstrates the port management's commitment to maintaining competitiveness and operational capacity. Meanwhile, the Port's president, Cleverton Vieira, noted that maintaining the depth of the inner harbor is key to ensuring proper operating conditions, and that the project responds to a request from the port community, providing greater safety and efficiency for vessel berthing and unberthing.

The dredger Galileo Galilei, operated by Jan de Nul do Brasil, has a length overall of 166 meters and a carrying capacity of 18,000 cubic meters, equivalent to about 1,800 three-axle trucks. It is a trailing suction hopper dredger, known as a Hopper, with capacity for 32 crew members. This is the same vessel that carried out the beach nourishment at Itapoá Beach, completed in late August, as part of the deepening dredging of the access channel to Babitonga Bay, a project also being carried out by the Port of São Francisco do Sul.