Galileo Galilei dredger to ‘salvage’ Port of Itajaí channel

The Galileo Galilei dredger has arrived at the Port of Itajaí. The dredging work to maintain the draft on the Itajaí-Açu River began on the 17th, which should “save” the access channel to the Itajaí and Navegantes Port Complex from the damages inflicted by abnormally intense rainfalls. Larger vessels have been unable to access ports as a result of this.

In addition to Galileo, which was used to widen the sand strip at Balneário Camboriú’s central beach, another dredger, Water Injection, will also be used in the channel’s maintenance.

This joint action will give the access channel a greater depth and, consequently, allow larger vessels to circulate with tranquility without the risk of larger ships running aground during this process.

The Galileo dredger is a hopper dredger, which means it works by suction (extracting waste from a cistern and transporting it to the high seas, where it is discharged) and has a cistern capacity of 18,000 cubic meters. The internal and external channels must be restored to depths of 14 and 14.5 meters, respectively, as part of the works.

This dredger already carries out routine operations at the berths of the Port of Itajaí and Navegantes, thanks to a contract worth more than BRL 230 million between the Port Authority and the Van Oord company. Maintaining draft depth is part of the contractual requirement.

“Continuous channel maintenance is required for the best navigation of large vessels. To maintain the good draft this time, Galileo Galilei, a suction dredger, was called in. The mooring berths must be deeper to eliminate any risk that could compromise the vessels. As a result, the Port of Itajaí continues to dredge the berths so that everything runs well,” said Fábio da Veiga, Superintendent of the Port of Itajaí.

Source: ND Mais

To read the full original article, please go to: https://ndmais.com.br/economia-sc/draga-galileu-galilei-inicia-trabalhos-para-salvar-canal-do-porto-de-itajai/

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