Potential Reduction of Dredging Volumes in the Access Channel to the Port of Santos through the Use of Jetties

Abstract

Santos is the most important Brazilian port, handling about 162 million of tons in 2022. In 2010, there was a great capital dredging to deepen the Access Channel to 15 m deep (Chart Datum -CD). This depth was not achieved, due to inefficiency on dredging procedures. Previous studies have indicated that, in order to maintain the bathymetric condition presented by the survey carried out in March 2016, an annual dredging of approximately 4,325,000 m³ would be necessary. This value increases for different project depths, increasing by 15%, 55%, and 80%, considering drafts of 15, 16, and 17 meters, respectively. Considering this situation, this study evaluated the possibility of implementing jetties in the region of the Port of Santos, using a calibrated hydrodynamic and morphological computational model for the area of interest. From the simulation of two different scenarios to represent local hydrodynamic conditions, reductions of approximately 45%, 40%, 35%, and 30% were estimated for the condition presented by the 2016 bathymetry and for draft depths of 15, 16, and 17 meters, respectively.