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Court orders emergency dredging to resume at Brazilian Port of Santos
A FEDERAL judge in Sao Paulo has ordered the resumption of emergency dredging to restore the port of Santos' draft to 13.2 metres (43 feet). The port handled 3.5 million TEU last year, or 40 per cent of Brazil's total container throughput.
As a result of the draft restrictions, thousands of containers have missed sailings, and the Santos and Sao Paulo Shipagents Association (Sindamar) claims that carriers have lost US$140 million since the crisis began on June 30.
The port now has a draft of 12.6 metres, an improvement from the 12.3 metres that shippers feared the channel would return to if the emergency dredging was not resumed quickly.
The dispute centres on which of two dredging contracts - one from port authority Codesp and one from Ministry of Transport, Ports, and Civil Aviation (MTPAC) - takes precedence over the other. Boskalis, which has a long-term contract that starts in September to dredge to 15 metres, said the emergency dredging work Dragabras was carrying out should be under the former's purview, reported IHS Media.
It is likely that the MTPAC pressured the judge to overturn the initial injunction "for the sake of the country's economy," said a Santos shipping agent.
"The minimum that could be expected for the port community is the resumption of the depth of the Santos port channel that we had before the draft was reduced," said National Federation of Port Operators Sergio Aquino.
"Therefore, this must be just the first step. We cannot think that things are settled, since we were without the required depth before the injunction came into force," he said.
As a result of the draft restrictions, thousands of containers have missed sailings, and the Santos and Sao Paulo Shipagents Association (Sindamar) claims that carriers have lost US$140 million since the crisis began on June 30.
The port now has a draft of 12.6 metres, an improvement from the 12.3 metres that shippers feared the channel would return to if the emergency dredging was not resumed quickly.
The dispute centres on which of two dredging contracts - one from port authority Codesp and one from Ministry of Transport, Ports, and Civil Aviation (MTPAC) - takes precedence over the other. Boskalis, which has a long-term contract that starts in September to dredge to 15 metres, said the emergency dredging work Dragabras was carrying out should be under the former's purview, reported IHS Media.
It is likely that the MTPAC pressured the judge to overturn the initial injunction "for the sake of the country's economy," said a Santos shipping agent.
"The minimum that could be expected for the port community is the resumption of the depth of the Santos port channel that we had before the draft was reduced," said National Federation of Port Operators Sergio Aquino.
"Therefore, this must be just the first step. We cannot think that things are settled, since we were without the required depth before the injunction came into force," he said.
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