Portuguese 
English 
Spanish 
5 min of reading 
0 comments 
Navegantes, in Santa Catarina, has begun setting up the construction site for the beach widening in the Gravatá neighborhood, which will extend the sand strip to 70 meters along 2.3 kilometers. The R$ 31.5 million project will be executed by the Belgian multinational Jan de Nul, specialized in maritime engineering, with a contractual term of five months and an expected completion in three.
Beach widening is one of the most complex and expensive interventions a coastal city can undertake, and Navegantes has just taken the first concrete step to transform Gravatá Beach. The construction site is being set up in the section between Avenida Prefeito Cirino Adolfo Cabral and Avenida Prefeito José Juvenal Mafra, where two assembly stations will prepare 900-millimeter diameter pipes that will be used to pump sand from the seabed to the beach strip. The pieces arrive in sections of 6 and 12 meters and will be joined by the teams to form segments of 24 meters.
According to information from the NSC portal, Mayor Ricardo Ventura classified the installation of the site as a decisive step for the effective start of the beach widening. The intervention will cover a 2.3-kilometer stretch between the Gravatá River Mouth and the Rio das Pedras, and after the sand strip is widened, the expectation is that the beach will have a 70-meter extension. For a beach that has been losing sand over the years, as shown by photographic records from 2005 and 2006 compared to current images, the widening represents the recovery of a space that the sea had been taking.
How beach widening works
The beach widening process, also called nourishment, involves removing sand from the seabed through dredging and pumping it to the coast, depositing the material along the strip to be expanded. In the case of Gravatá Beach, 900-millimeter diameter pipelines will connect the dredging equipment at sea to the beach, transporting the sand in the form of a liquid slurry that, upon reaching the coast, is deposited and leveled by teams and earthmoving machines.
-
Toyota bets on 3,100 tons of steel to transform the Sorocaba plant, expand the built area by 56,000 m², and prepare for more flexible production in the future.
-
Government advances with recycled plastic houses that are ready in up to five days, have two bedrooms, use interlocking blocks, and generate income for waste pickers in a new phase of the project aimed at combating the housing deficit.
-
Construction material reuse program is approved in the 2nd round and can transform construction leftovers into support for vulnerable families in Minas Gerais.
-
Construction system created in South Africa uses reusable plastic forms to erect houses at an accelerated pace, with the structure ready overnight and a proposal to reduce housing costs in regions where demand is growing faster than traditional construction.
The choice of pipes with a diameter of 900 millimeters indicates the volume of material that will be moved. Each 24-meter section, assembled from the joining of smaller pieces, forms a continuous line that needs to withstand the pressure of the sand and water mixture pumped at high speed. The structuring of this pipeline began this Tuesday (12) at the construction site and is expected to continue until June 10, when the actual dredging phase can begin.
Jan de Nul: the Belgian multinational behind the project
image: Prefeitura de Navegantes.
The company responsible for the beach widening in Gravatá is Jan de Nul, a Belgian multinational specializing in maritime engineering and dredging. The company operates large-scale projects around the world, including port expansions, artificial island construction, and beach recovery in countries in Europe, Asia, and the Americas. The presence of such a high-caliber company in Navegantes reflects the technical complexity of the operation, which requires specialized equipment and experience in underwater work.
The planned investment for the intervention is R$ 31.5 million, an amount that covers the mobilization of equipment, seabed dredging, sand transport through pipelines, and the finishing of the new beach area. For Navegantes, a city that thrives on beach tourism and port activity, the investment represents a bet on the enhancement of the coastline as an economic asset and the quality of life for residents who use Gravatá as a leisure area.
From 2005 to today: the beach that the sea has been swallowing
image: Prefeitura de Navegantes.
Photographic records of Gravatá Beach taken in 2005 and 2006 show a significantly wider strip of sand than what currently exists. Over two decades, coastal erosion has reduced the space between the water and the buildings, a natural process exacerbated by factors such as sea level rise, changes in current patterns, and human interventions that alter the sediment dynamics of the region.
image: Prefeitura de Navegantes.
Beach widening is the technical response to this erosive process. Instead of building walls and rigid barriers that only transfer the problem to the neighboring section, beach nourishment returns sand to the beach and rebuilds the lost strip. The disadvantage is that the deposited sand is also subject to future erosion, which means that the widening may require periodic maintenance over the years. Even so, the technique is considered the most suitable for urban beaches where the sand strip has direct economic and social value.
Traffic changes during the works
The setup of the construction site is already causing changes in traffic in the Gravatá region. The Navegantes city hall advises drivers and residents to use alternative routes through Olindo José Bernardes, Bernardo Antônio Narciso, Alfredo José Rebello, and Antônio Inácio streets during the period of pipeline installation. Guidance teams will be on-site to assist with any incidents.
The municipal administration asked for residents’ understanding regarding the temporary traffic changes. For those living around Gravatá, the inconvenience is the short-term price for a long-term gain: when the work is completed, the beach will have a 70-meter sand strip where there is currently only a fraction of that. The period of greatest traffic impact will be during the pipeline installation, which is expected to last until June 10th.
Deadline: five months in the contract, three in expectation
The contract between the Navegantes city hall and Jan de Nul provides five months for the total completion of the beach widening, counting from the mobilization of the construction site to the delivery of the finished sand strip. However, the municipal administration expects the work to be completed in three months, which would have Gravatá Beach ready before the start of the summer season.
The accelerated schedule depends on favorable weather conditions and the absence of technical unforeseen events during the dredging. Work at sea is particularly sensitive to swells, winds, and currents that can interrupt operations for days. If the weather cooperates, Jan de Nul has the technical capacity to meet the optimistic deadline. Otherwise, the five-month contract provides leeway to absorb delays without compromising the final delivery.
A beach with 70 meters and a question for the residents
Gravatá Beach in Navegantes will gain a 70-meter sand strip along 2.3 kilometers, in a R$ 31.5 million project executed by one of the largest marine engineering companies in the world. The beach widening will return to Gravatá the space that the sea has taken over two decades, transforming a beach that has been shrinking into one of the widest stretches of the northern coast of Santa Catarina.
Do you follow the beach widening projects in Santa Catarina? Tell us in the comments what you think about the R$ 31.5 million investment in Gravatá, if you have visited Praia do Gravatá before, and if you believe that the sand strip widening will last or if the sea will take it back. We want to hear your opinion.
Be the first to react!