Brazil’s Minister of Transportation, Maurício Quintella Lessa, recently visited APM Terminals Itajai to attend the signing ceremony of an $11 million contract to dredge the navigation channel and terminal berths to a depth of 14 meters.
The new depth will allow vessels of up to 9,000 TEU capacity to dock at the berths.
Flooding of the Itajai-Açu River in 2015 resulted in the accumulation of sedimentation at Itajai, reducing the existing depth from 12 meters to 10.5 meters, and limiting the size of vessels able to call the port, APM Terminals said in its release.
A separate project will spend $33 million to widen the port’s turning basin, enabling the accommodation of vessels of up to 335 meters in length.
At present, APM Terminals Itajai can handle ships of up to 306 meters long.
The turning basin widening project is scheduled to be completed in 2018.
[mappress mapid=”23683″]