PORT OF BARRANQUILLA’S ACCESS CHANNEL REACHES 10 METERS

In November 2016 the access channel of Colombia’s Port of Barranquilla reached 10 meters (about 33 feet) raising once again concerns about its navigability. According to local media a sediment accumulation at the kilometer 11 brought its depth to 10 meters as opposed to the 11.43-meter (37.5-foot) mini-mum depth it should have in the same area. With the port’s access channel at such a critical situation only ships with drafts of nine meters (29.5 feet) or smaller could transit at the local port. Luxembourg-based European Dredging Company which won a contract in July to dredge the Port of Barranquilla should extract 151770 cubic meters (198508 cubic yards) of accumulated sediments nearby the kilometer 21 of the port’s access channel so its depth could be kept at 12 meters (39.4 feet). Local port authority Asoportuaria suggested river management authority Cormagdalena should use Jan De Nul’s trailing suction hopper dredge (TSHD) Pedro Álvarez de Cabral to dredge the kilometer 11 of the port’s access channel. The TSHD vessel will be used by Jan De Nul’s Colombian subsidiary European Dredging Company to dredge the port’s access channel at the kilometer 21.