Company hired to remove rocks at the Port of Santos previously signed a contract termination with APS

The company selected by the Santos Port Authority (APS) to carry out rock removal (derrocagem) in the channel of the Port of Santos, DTA Engenharia, headquartered in São Paulo, has previously had a contract terminated at the port.

A contract signed in 2020 between the Santos Port Authority (APS) and DTA for dredging services was terminated. According to the Port Authority, the reason was the existence of pending issues related to the economic and financial rebalancing of the agreement.

In a statement, APS said the contract “was terminated by mutual agreement between the parties, which included the reciprocal withdrawal of legal actions.”

The company’s president, João Acácio Gomes de Oliveira Neto, emphasized that the termination was amicable, “because the contracted volume was far lower than the actual volume,” and that the agreement was fully executed, with no legal disputes outstanding between the parties.

João Acácio also stressed that the situation did not raise any questions regarding DTA’s capacity or credibility in the market. “There was no impact, as APS acknowledged the technical excellence of the work carried out by DTA. That is why DTA was selected last August by APS to perform the rock removal as part of the channel deepening project to 16 meters,” he said.

Contract and selection criteria

The current contract between APS and DTA Engenharia amounts to R$17,087,870.05 and covers the removal of 31 rocky outcrops over 18 months. According to the Port Authority, the company won the tender by offering the lowest overall price.

“The contracted service involves rock removal in the estuary, including the preparation of the basic and executive projects and the removal of rocky points, to deepen the navigation channel to 16 meters,” APS explained.

According to the Port Authority, six bidders took part in the tender. One was disqualified for price infeasibility, as the bid was far below the Authority’s estimated budget (0.7% of the projected value), and another for failing to meet requirements set out in the tender documents. “There were no appeals against the proposal submitted by the winning contractor,” APS added.

Contract history

Despite the contract termination at the Port of Santos in 2020, DTA Engenharia says it has signed dozens of additional agreements at the port, all of which have been fulfilled. The most recent, according to the company, was a two-year maintenance dredging contract (2019–2021), worth R$274.7 million.

“Over the past 12 years, DTA has executed the largest port dredging and rock removal contracts in Brazil, having dredged more than 120 million cubic meters, a performance never achieved by any other company in the sector,” said João Acácio Gomes de Oliveira Neto.

According to him, this track record includes the ports of Port of Santos and Paranaguá (PR). In Paranaguá, the company set a record with 43,000 m³ of cisterns operating simultaneously, under the largest maintenance dredging contract ever carried out in Brazil, maintained for five consecutive years.

Dredgers and equipment

DTA owns 16 dredgers: six cutter suction dredgers (ranging from 8 to 24 inches), four backhoe dredgers with transport barges, and six hopper dredgers with capacities from 1,000 to 18,000 m³, in addition to leased equipment. The company is also in the process of acquiring two new hopper dredgers, with capacities of 8,000 m³ and 5,000 m³.

The company’s president said DTA has a wide range of dredging and rock-removal equipment tailored to the specific needs of each project, ensuring service quality while meeting deadlines and reducing costs.

“The equipment is mobile and currently deployed across the entire Brazilian coastline, from inland waterways in the Amazon to Rio Grande do Sul, operating today under 21 different contracts, with its operational base at the Port of Santos, on the left bank, on Santo Amaro Island in Guarujá,” he concluded.

Source: A Tribuna 

Sharing is caring!