Port of Porto Alegre prepares to receive another long-haul vessel

The Port of Porto Alegre is set to receive another long-haul vessel, scheduled to arrive on Feb. 14, according to state port authority Portos RS. The ship will be one of five deep-sea vessels expected to call at the capital’s port by the end of February. The first of these was the Equinox Eagle, which arrived on Jan. 26 carrying 11,000 tonnes of potassium nitrate fertilizer shipped from Saint Petersburg, Russia.

Both the resumption of long-haul shipping and the authorization for nighttime navigation were signed last month by Governor Eduardo Leite, during a ceremony at the Piratini Palace involving multiple agencies. Nighttime vessel movements — long awaited for 42 years — still lack a start date, as they require approval from regulatory authorities. The return of deep-sea shipping, however, was coordinated jointly by the port authority, the Brazilian Navy and the Lagoa dos Patos pilotage service.

Dredging has been cited by industry executives as one of the main bottlenecks for inland navigation in Rio Grande do Sul, after a series of groundings involving large vessels — particularly in late 2024 — disrupted business with major industries in the metropolitan region. Contacted for comment, the state’s industry federation welcomed the resumption of operations.

“During the period when the waterway and the Port of Porto Alegre were not navigable, the Infrastructure Council, through its Logistics Technical Group, engaged on multiple occasions with the state government and Portos RS, advocating for dredging to be prioritized in order to clear the main navigation channels and restore port operations,” said Cláudio Bier, president of the Fiergs industry federation.

He added that Fiergs continues to stress the need for a permanent dredging program for navigation channels, as well as the installation of protective structures on the pillars of the two bridges spanning Lake Guaíba.

Sediment buildup following flooding in rivers such as the Taquari, Sinos and Gravataí has reduced channel depths and cut the allowable draft to 5.18 meters, hampering the movement of large vessels along the waterway, which typically handles around six million tonnes of cargo per year. Investments made by Portos RS to restore navigability — funded through the Rio Grande Plan Fund (Funrigs) — total R$258 million.

Source: Correio do Povo

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