Access to Natal Port through Potengi River to be dredged soon

The new director-general of the Rio Grande do Norte Port Authority (Codern), Nino Ubarana, has announced that the dredging of the Rio Potengi in access to Natal Port will begin soon. This service is necessary to maintain a safe depth for ship traffic and to avoid grounding.

The last dredging was carried out in 2012. “Due to the passage of time, some points are more difficult to navigate, the river is shallower, and ships are at risk,” Ubarana explained in an interview with Radio 91 on Monday, July 17. He said the study process is progressing.

Natal Port

“We have bid for a hydrographic study to have an X-ray of the riverbed, the access channel. We believe that by the end of July, this study will begin so that we can deliver it to the National Department of Transport Infrastructure (Dnit) and be able to take the next step, which is to make the dredging project,” he said.

The dredging process is still uncertain. “There are two possibilities: B, which Dnit has already committed to doing, which is after the hydrographic study, to dredge at specific points, something that will cost around R$10-12 million. And plan A, which is a medium to long-term work, which will require federal funds, would cost approximately R$150 million.” The study is expected to be completed between 30 and 45 days after the start date.

The dredging of the access channel and turning basin of Natal Port currently needs to increase its draft to 12 meters deep, which will provide new port operations.

Newton Navarro Bridge

Ships of medium and large sizes cannot pass under the Newton Navarro Bridge at night due to the lack of installed fenders, which limits the Port of Natal. “We discussed with the State Government and with Minister Márcio França [Ports and Airports], who committed to helping financially since the Rio Grande do Norte Government does not have the conditions to do it alone,” said the Codern director-general.

According to him, Dnit has already presented the preliminary project to the State Government. “Dnit will make the project, and after the project is completed, Minister Márcio França will release the resource for Dnit to carry out the work,” he pointed out. The project is budgeted at approximately R$41 million, but an update will be made.

Exit of CMA-CGM

The decision of the French company CMA-CGM to not hold operations any longer in the terminal directly impacted the activity of the port terminal. The company’s operations were closed in April. The main reason for CMA-CGM’s departure from the operation in Natal was that it had presented a proposal to the Ceará Port Authority to lease an area corresponding to twice the area of the terminal in the capital of Rio Grande do Norte.

“The loss of CMA-CGM causes a deficit of around R$4 million in 2023, which causes some difficulty for Codern. Our forecast of loss for 2024 with the departure of CMA-CGM is approximately R$9 million,” said Nino Ubarana.

The Codern technical team has been working to mitigate this loss, according to the director-general. “At the end of August, the Green Sea operation [fruit export] will begin, and we are also with a salt operation in big bags [large 1-ton bags] at the end of July; if everything goes well, we will probably leave with 10,000 tonnes per week per ship.”

Green Industry Port

Headed by the State Government, the Green Industry Port is an important project for the feasibility of projects for the exploration of offshore wind energy (at sea) and the export of various other products, such as green hydrogen (H2V).

“I think these projects are complementary; the governor [Fátima Bezerra] works well on the issue of the green industry port since it is a port that aims at the issue of renewable energies, something that today the Port of Natal does not support. I also agree with the extension of the Porto Potengi [new port complex on the left bank of the Rio Potengi], which will be a way to make an intermodal connection,” began Nino Ubarana.

“But I ask that the public authorities give us their hands to recover the infrastructure of the Port of Natal because these other ports are [long-term] for a decade, a decade and a half,” said Ubarana.

Source: Agora RN

To read the original news report, see: https://agorarn.com.br/ultimas/codern-estudo-dragagem-no-porto-de-natal/

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