Port of Santos reduces draft in berths with no dredging

The Santos Port Authority (SPA) has reduced the draft in another berth after a prolonged period with no dredging services at the Port of Santos in recent weeks. The reduction, officially announced on January 1, will take place on the Left Bank, in Guarujá, at a point designated for solid bulk handling. This is the sixth draft reduction announced by SPA since January 6.

People are concerned that SPA will announce more draft reductions if dredging services are not resumed, limiting operations at the country’s largest port.

According to the Santos Port Authority, DTA Engenharia, which is in charge of dredging, has received 21 exclusive work orders to operate in berths since July 2021, but ten of these requests are still pending. As a result, only 44.9 thousand cubic meters of the 97 thousand cubic meters were moved, accounting for only 46% of the volume that should have been dredged.

According to SPA, the DTA’s alleged reasons for non-compliance with the services include maintenance procedures of various cargo equipment or the barge. Amid this impasse, the Port Authority issued three warnings and seven fines to the company.

Legal battle 

The dredging services of the Port of Santos have become a legal battle as SPA and DTA do not have the same understanding about the term of the contract, which prevents the Dutch company Van Oord from taking over the agreement signed with Port Authority last year.

According to DTA, the contract with SPA only expires in April. It should be extendable until 2025, as the company understands that the document should be considered valid for 24 months after the first service order dated April 2020. On the other hand, the Port Authority believes the contract should be completed 24 months after being signed in January 2020.

After different courts favored both sides, the Federal Regional Court of the 3rd region (TRF-3) determined, on January 17, the provisional maintenance of the bond between SPA and DTA.

However, problems at the port did not suffice as SPA alleges that attempts to make the company fulfill its dredging duties have been in vain. Since then, the draft at berths has been reduced, which prevents ships from working at their capacity and harms the port community.

Given that dredging is a critical service at the Port of Santos, the 2nd Civil Court of Santos ruled last Monday that DTA has 24 hours to resume services at the port complex or face a daily fine of BRL 100,000.

The other side

The DTA reported in a note that SPA had not issued work orders “regarding locations with lowered depth, reserving them for the new contract with Van Oord, despite the Justice having assured the DTA that the contract would continue.”

The company also stated that it has always followed work orders and has the “largest fleet of dredging equipment in the country” at its disposal to fulfill the contract’s terms. Furthermore, the DTA claims that it will contest the R$100,000 daily fine on Tuesday as it seems that ” SPA misled the judge.”

Fonte: A Tribuna

Para ler a matéria original completa acesse o link:

https://www.atribuna.com.br/noticias/portomar/sem-dragagem-porto-de-santos-reduz-calado-em-berco-de-atracacao

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