São Francisco port completes Itapoá beach nourishment as Babitonga dredging advances

The dredging project to deepen the access channel to Babitonga Bay, home to the ports of São Francisco do Sul and Itapoá in southern Brazil, has reached 88% completion, with a parallel beach nourishment program in Itapoá now finished.

The Galileo Galilei dredger has already removed 10.6 million cubic meters of sediment from the channel, out of a planned total of 12 million cubic meters, according to the Port of São Francisco do Sul, which is responsible for the works.

Part of the dredged material was used to restore the Itapoá shoreline, in a section near Port Itapoá. That stage was completed on Monday, August 24, with beach widening works covering 8.8 kilometers of coastline.

The full Babitonga Bay channel dredging project is expected to be completed in the second half of 2026.

Once the works are finished, the port complex will be able to receive vessels up to 366 meters long and with capacity of up to 16,000 TEUs. The channel currently allows calls by ships of up to 336 meters, with capacity of around 10,000 TEUs.

Guilherme Medeiros, operations director at the Port of São Francisco do Sul, said the progress marks the final stage of the channel intervention. He said the project will expand the port complex’s operating capacity, reduce costs for users and increase the competitiveness of ports located in Babitonga Bay, while remaining on schedule.

Unprecedented partnership

The R$333 million project was made possible through an unprecedented partnership between the ports of São Francisco do Sul and Itapoá.

It is the first time in Brazil that a public port has signed a contract with a private port for a project of this kind. The work is being carried out through a partnership in which the public Port of São Francisco do Sul will contribute R$33 million, while private terminal Port Itapoá will finance R$300 million.

The private investment will be reimbursed in installments through 2037. The reimbursement to Itapoá will come from additional port tariffs generated by the increase in vessel calls and cargo volumes after the deepening project is completed.

The channel deepening will also eliminate the need for intermediate anchorage for vessels operating at the Port of São Francisco do Sul, generating estimated savings of R$20 million per year for ships using the port facilities.

Beach nourishment

The restoration of the sand strip is being carried out alongside the channel dredging and uses part of the sediment removed from the seabed.

The works began at Pontal do Norte Beach, continued to Princesa do Mar Beach and later focused on Figueira do Pontal Beach, the final section covered by the project.

According to the port, this is the first time in Brazil — and the second time in the world — that sediment from port dredging has been used to widen a beach. By length, it is the largest beach nourishment project ever carried out in the country.

Environmental recovery

The project also includes the recovery of restinga vegetation, a native coastal ecosystem that helps stabilize dunes and sandy shorelines.

So far, more than 180,000 seedlings from six species have been planted across 31 areas along the coast.

A continuous dune system is also being created, with dunes between 1 meter and 1.5 meters high and about 26 meters wide. The structure is designed to help fix the restinga vegetation in place and support the stability of the newly widened beach.

The progress of Babitonga Bay channel dredging is strategically important for Santa Catarina’s port system, as deeper access will allow larger containerships to call at the complex and improve operating conditions for both São Francisco do Sul and Itapoá.

Source: Informativo dos Portos

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