Port of Itajai Plans to Remove 133-Year-Old Wreck to Prepare for Dredging

The Brazilian Port of Itajaí has embarked on a project to remove the wreck of a merchant ship that has been lying on the bottom of a critical shipping channel for more than 130 years. The move is expected to pave the way for deepening of the channel to allow larger vessels to access the port.

Itajaí, Brazil's second-largest container port, said it has signed an agreement with the University of Vale do Itajaí (Univali) to carry out a technical study on the removal of the wreckage of the ship Pallas, a vessel that was wrecked in 1893 and still obstructs access to the port complex.

Historical accounts indicate that Pallas was a merchant ship built in England in 1891 and incorporated into the Brazilian fleet the same year. During its short period of service, the ship transported passengers and supplies between Rio de Janeiro in Brazil and Buenos Aires in Argentina.

Historians believe Pallas was scuttled by its captain in October 1893 during the Federalist Revolution to prevent it from falling into rebel hands, with its remains buried under sediment in the Itajaí River between buoys 9 and 11, near to the modern port's Evolution Basin No. 2. Since its scuttling, the wreck has remained submerged in the access channel to the port for more than a century, becoming part of local maritime history.

With the Port of Itajaí embarking on a major modernization, the presence of the wreckage is a major obstacle to the deepening of the waterway, limiting the expansion of the port's operational capacity. The busy port handled 1.2 million tonnes of cargo during the first quarter of this year, and wants to have room to grow. For that reason, it has become essential to remove the wreck to allow for dredging and expansion of a large turning basin. Currently, the channel has a depth of 14 meters, but the plan is to deepen it to 16 meters to enable larger vessels to access the port, in line with the growing size of modern ships.

Itajaí says that in addition to accommodating bigger vessels and enhancing the port's operations, the removal of the wreck is also needed for facilitating safe maneuvers, increasing productivity, reducing logistics costs and strengthening the competitiveness of the port complex. The cost of removing the wreck is estimated at $12.8 million.

"This agreement means much more than the beginning of a technical study. It symbolizes vision, boldness, resumption and confidence in the potential of the Port of Itajaí," said Artur Antunes Pereira, superintendent of the Port of Itajaí.

Removal of the wreck is part of a major modernization project at the Port of Itajaí that is being financed by the federal government at a cost of $158.8 million over the next four years. The project also involves the dredging of the channel, the reconfiguration of the Navegantes jetty and the construction of a pier for cruise ships. Itajaí is operated under the supervision of the state-owned Santos Port Authority.

File image courtesy Universidade de Brasilia / Emilia Silberstein / CC BY 2.0