What we do

Porto Sudeste is a new mineral terminal which aims to load iron ore sourced from the neighbouring state of Minas Gerais. Initially the capacity is 50 million tonnes but this is due to be expanded to 100 million tonnes in the future. The port is currently designed to accommodate Wozmax bulk carriers and operation began immediately following completion of the project in April 2015.

This port is located inside the Bay of Sepetiba, approximately 80 km south of the city of Rio de Janeiro, where DEME was also performing maintenance dredging campaigns for Vale SA (the second largest mining company in the world). We have performed several dredging campaigns for other major customers including ThyssenKrupp, CSN (National Steel Company) and the public port of Itaguaí.

Dredged materials were dumped offshore in a licenced disposal area 6 nm outside of Sepetiba Bay. We executed the project with our trailing suction hopper “mega” dredger 'Pearl River', which boasts a capacity of more than 24,000 m³.

The contract included the dredging of soft material, as well as the drilling and blasting of almost 100,000 m³ of granite and gneiss using the drilling vessel “Yuan Dong 007” and its removal with a backhoe dredger through a contract addendum.

We successfully completed the project well within the contractual period and in line with strict health, safety and environmental standards.