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Portonave in Navegantes (SC) will complete a R$ 2 billion investment in the second half of 2026 to receive ships up to 400 meters long and expand capacity to 2 million TEUs per year, but it depends on the deepening of the channel from 14 to 17 meters, a federal project under analysis by the TCU.
Portonave, a private port terminal in Navegantes on the northern coast of Santa Catarina, is preparing to receive a generation of ships that currently cannot dock at its berths. The R$ 2 billion investment in modernizing the quay and new equipment is expected to be completed in the second half of 2026, increasing the terminal’s annual capacity from 1.5 million to 2 million TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units) and preparing the infrastructure to operate with ships up to 400 meters long, known as Ultra Large Container Vessels (ULCVs), a class of mega-cargo ships that transport between 18,000 and 24,000 containers per voyage and define the main routes of global maritime trade. “Without the conditions to receive 366-meter ships, we will be left out of the main shipping routes,” warned Osmari de Castilho Ribas, Portonave’s superintendent director, in an interview published by the newspaper Estadão.
The private investment, however, faces a dependency that Portonave does not control: the access channel to the Itajaí-Navegantes Port Complex. Currently with a depth of less than 14 meters, the channel needs to be deepened to 17 meters so that 400-meter ships can safely navigate to the terminal’s berths, a project that is the responsibility of the federal government and whose concession is under analysis by the Federal Court of Accounts (TCU) with an auction scheduled for the first quarter of 2026. Without the deepening, Portonave’s R$ 2 billion investment prepares a terminal capable of receiving ships that cannot reach it, a situation that the superintendent director defines as urgent so that Santa Catarina is not excluded from global routes for large-scale navigation.
How much Portonave is investing and what the money buys
The R$ 2 billion investment is divided into two fronts: R$ 1.6 billion for civil works on the quay and R$ 439 million for new port equipment. The works include the expansion of berths along 900 meters of quay with three simultaneous docking points, structural reinforcement to support the weight of larger ships and their respective cargoes, and the installation of gantry cranes capable of reaching the width of 400-meter ships, which are significantly wider than the 350-meter ships the terminal currently operates. The modernization mobilizes 1,100 workers in the works and maintains the 1,300 direct and 5,500 indirect jobs that the port generates in Navegantes’ economy.
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Portonave belongs to Terminal Investments Limited (TiL), the port terminal division of MSC, an Italian shipping giant headquartered in Switzerland that is one of the largest container ship operators in the world. The connection between MSC as a shipowner and Portonave as a terminal gives the investment an integrated commercial logic: the same company that operates the 400-meter ships owns the port that is preparing to receive them, an alignment that reduces commercial risk and guarantees demand for the infrastructure even before its completion. In 2024, even amidst the works, Portonave handled 1.208 million TEUs, a volume that positions it as the third largest container terminal in Brazil, behind only Santos (SP) and Paranaguá (PR).
Why 400-meter ships matter for Brazilian trade
The global trend of increasing cargo ship sizes follows a direct economic logic: the larger the ship, the lower the cost per container transported. The world’s major shipping lines, including MSC, Maersk, and CMA CGM, operate growing fleets of ULCV vessels on routes between Asia, Europe, and the Americas, and ports that cannot accommodate these ships are relegated to secondary routes served by smaller vessels, a position that increases freight costs and reduces the competitiveness of exports and imports passing through them. For Brazil, which relies on ports to move agricultural, mineral, and industrial commodities, the ability to receive larger ships is not a luxury: it is a condition for maintaining competitive logistics costs in a global market where every cent of freight per container makes a difference in the margin.
The Brazilian port scenario shows a race among terminals to adapt to the new generation of ships. Santos (SP), Brazil’s largest port with 3.73 million TEUs handled in 2024, currently operates with a depth of 15 meters and receives ships up to 366 meters, with its own deepening plan to 17 meters underway. Itapoá (SC) is working on dredging to reach 16 meters and receive 366-meter ships in the second half of 2026. Paranaguá (PR) operates with 13.5 meters and has expansion plans. Portonave, which currently receives ships up to 350 meters, is directly targeting 400 meters as a way to position itself among the terminals capable of serving the ULCV class in Brazil.
What is needed for the access channel to allow the arrival of larger ships
The deepening of the access channel to the Itajaí-Navegantes Complex is a project involving three main technical components. Dredging to increase the depth from 14 to 17 meters is the central stage, accompanied by the adaptation of the north breakwater in Navegantes and the expansion of the turning basin in Saco da Fazenda, an area where ships need to turn to position themselves at the berths, a maneuver that 400-meter ships require in a proportionally larger space than current ships. The channel is shared by the ports of Itajaí (on the right bank of the Itajaí-Açu river) and Navegantes (on the left bank), which means that the deepening benefits both port complexes.
The channel concession is under analysis by the TCU, and the auction to choose the company that will execute and maintain the works was scheduled for the first quarter of 2026. The Secretary of the Ministry of Ports and Airports, Alex Sandro de Ávila, told Estadão that the tender for the specialized company responsible for the dredging and maintenance of the channel would initially be held in 2025, a deadline that was later revised to 2026. While the auction does not take place, Portonave completes its internal works knowing that the full potential of the R$ 2 billion investment will only be realized when 400-meter ships can effectively navigate the channel to its berths.
What the modernization of the port means for logistics in Southern Brazil
The Itajaí-Navegantes Port Complex is a central logistics hub for the industrial economy of Santa Catarina and neighboring states. The region exports products from Santa Catarina’s agribusiness, industrial cargo from Joinville and Blumenau, and imports inputs for production chains that include the oil and gas sector of the Santos Basin, in addition to handling liquefied natural gas (LNG) on ships that frequently exceed 300 meters in length. The arrival of 400-meter ships at the port complex would expand the capacity to move all these cargoes with lower freight costs per unit, a benefit that propagates throughout the entire regional production chain.
The Brazilian port sector is experiencing a wave of private investments estimated at R$ 10 billion in works at various terminals, according to a survey by Solve Shipping consultancy. Portonave’s modernization is the largest individual bet within this movement, and its success depends on synchronization between private investment that is already underway and public works that have not yet materialized, an equation that will test the federal government’s ability to deliver infrastructure at the speed that the private sector and global maritime trade demand. The answer will come in the coming months: if the channel auction happens on time and dredging is executed with the urgency that Portonave advocates, Navegantes could operate with 400-meter ships by the end of 2027; if delayed, Santa Catarina will have a R$ 2 billion terminal waiting for ships that cannot reach it.
And you, do you think Brazil is preparing fast enough for mega-ships? Leave your opinion in the comments.
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