Brazil has 34 Public Maritime Ports distributed along about 7,500 km of coastline. In each of these Ports there are different terminals, some administered by public agencies, while others leased to private companies. Access to these terminals takes place through channels of different dimensions and intricacies to navigation whose competence to dredge, whether for maintenance or even deepening, pertains to the Federal Government or the local port authorities. Exceptions to this rule occur in the Private Terminals, located outside Public Ports jurisdiction and whose competence of dredging keep up to the administration part.
Significant advances have occurred in the last decade with foreign dredging companies enter in the Brazilian market, fact that enabled the implementation and maintenance of several navigable waterways in Brazilian Terminals. But if, on the one hand, legislation and even governmental programs made it feasible to carry out dredging works of greater magnitude and complexity in Brazilian jurisdictional waters, many works did not reach the proposed objectives due to the lack of planning before the dredging execution and precarious management and supervision of such works.
This article presents good practices of dredging control and management in maritime terminals that ensure the adequate technical, financial and environmental control of the works, and helping to reduce waste of public and private resources and minimizing risks.