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Discover the HAM-316 dredger, the largest suction dredger in Brazil, which has already removed millions of waste in Itajaí. The vessel has been operating there since 2023 and is impressive!
In this article you will learn about the HAM-316 Suction Dredger, which was built in the Netherlands in 1998. The HAM-316 dredger is responsible for maintaining a port channel, which involves removing sediment from the bed, to maintain the necessary depth for navigation of ships, ensuring navigability and safety in the channel. Check out everything about the largest suction DREDGER in Brazil.
HAM-316 suction dredger can store more than 11 tons of cargo
The HAM-316 dredger has a gross tonnage of 9.865 tons, a length of 128,46 meters and a beam of 22 meters. Its cargo storage capacity is 11.409 kilograms. Since the Dredge HAM 316 arrived in Itajaí, in the second half of November 2023, its performance has been recorded daily in an accurate and punctual manner.
As it is extremely necessary to collect and remove solid materials, the vessel operates 24 hours a day, working permanently on dredging along the access channel to the Itajaí Açu River Port Complex. It is worth mentioning that, by December, the HAM-316 suction dredger had already removed more than 2 million cubic meters of sedimentary material.
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In addition to ensuring the safety of the entrances and exits of larger ships in the Port Complex, the HAM-316 dredger also has the emergency purpose of recovering the depth of the channel to up to 14 meters, and the important purpose of reducing the impacts of floods, making that the large flow of rainwater, which descends from the Itajaí Valley, can dissipate.
The municipality of Itajaí and neighboring cities in the AMFRI region, as well as other regions in the state of Santa Catarina, have suffered from several floods and flooding in recent months.
How does the HAM-316 suction dredger operate?
The HAM-316 dredger collects the sediment, loads it into its cistern and, within a radius of 5 miles, the equivalent of 10 kilometers away from the exit of the access channel to the complex, the waste is dumped at a point indicated by the environmental authorities as a disposal area, being deposited on the high seas.
According to the contracted company, around 374 cycles (round trip) were carried out in this dredge campaign. Based on the density of the cistern, each cycle presents 5.950 cubic meters collected, totaling an amount removed from 2.217.820 cubic meters, with an annual estimate of up to 4 million cubic meters to be dredged.
Currently, the channel is an average of 190 meters wide and around 14 meters deep. The HAM-316 dredger arrived in November to replace the Dutch Lelystad, and operates daily in parallel with the NJORD dredger, which injects powerful jets of water into the bottom of the river, causing sediments to be eliminated along with the current.
Port of Itajaí renews dredging contract for another year
According to Fábio da Veiga, superintendent of Port of Itajai, Itajaí is the only port in Brazil to have been carrying out permanent dredging since 1999, and is in negotiations to adjust a new amendment to renew the dredging contract for another 12 months with the Dutch company, responsible for the HAM- suction dredger. 316.
In the past, both the Itajaí terminal and the port complex as a whole presented extreme and difficult situations in maintaining dredging services. However, today for example, even with the strong floods that the region has been facing, three major dredging campaigns took place leading to more than three uninterrupted months of services.
