Underwater Port of Santos project gets boost from Crea-SP partnership

The project to build a tunnel below the water level between Santos and Guarujá, on the coast of São Paulo, has received technical support from the São Paulo State Council of Engineering and Agronomy (Crea-SP) as a technical cooperation agreement between the body and the Santos Port Authority (APS) was formalized on June 20 at the Crea headquarters in São Paulo.

With a length of 860 meters, the underwater tunnel is a project of the federal government that seeks to create a connection between Santos and Guarujá through a fast and agile channel. Currently, moving from one city to another requires the use of ferries, which interrupts port activity. The journey can also be made by the Cônego Domênico Rangoni highway.

The partnership with Crea will create effective solutions for the tunnel through guidance and preventive inspection measures for the professionals who work in the management, installation, or port infrastructure of the tunnel. They will also cover the services that are provided by these professionals.

The deal also provides for the exchange of information in all processes related to the execution of the works. For the APS CEO, Anderson Pomini, the partnership is very important to make the dry connection project, which has been debated in the region for over 90 years, a reality.

“The participation of engineers in modernizing our project is vital for being able to execute it,” Pomini commented.

According to him, the sea tunnel requires technologies that do not yet exist in Brazil but will be implemented in the construction of the project.

The sea tunnel project was identified by Crea-SP as an alternative to the bottlenecks of the integration between the waterway, road, and railway systems in the state’s logistics and infrastructure in a diagnostic report delivered to the São Paulo State Government in February this year.

Next steps

According to current studies, the impact of the work would be extended to the social, environmental, and economic realms, as it should facilitate the logistical flow of goods to the Port of Santos. Pomini explained that approximately 80,000 people cross the channel, and 10,000 trucks arrive at the port daily. Of this total, about 2,500 need to use the highways.

The APS president explained that the project requires the renewal of environmental licenses. “The Ibama [Brazilian Institute of the Environment and Renewable Natural Resources] is already working on the subject, and then we will update the project that was developed by the public road development company Dersa,” he said.

Public hearing

A public hearing discussed the project in the Chamber of Deputies’ Transportation and Traffic Commission in Brasília (DF) on June 13. On the occasion, the APS president represented the Minister of Ports and Airports, Márcio França (PSB).

According to Pomini’s presentation at the hearing, the tunnel should have a toll with a charge in the form of a social tariff and a delivery time of four years.

Source: G1

To read the original news report, see: https://g1.globo.com/sp/santos-regiao/porto-mar/noticia/2023/07/21/porto-de-santos-firma-parceria-com-crea-sp-para-projeto-do-tunel-submerso-entre-santos-e-guaruja-sp.ghtml

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