PIANC Smart Rivers 2022

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Abstract : *(250~1000 words)

The Tapajós River is currently the most utilized shallow draft waterway in Brazil, with the transport of over 12 million tonnes of commodities in 2020 and projections of over 40 million tonnes per year by 2035.  The waterway is an important link in the transportation chain for agricultural commodities (specifically soybean and corn) produced in the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso.  Currently, agricultural products are transported approximately 1000 km by truck and then loaded onto shallow-draft barges on the Tapajós River at the city of Miritituba, Pará.  The commodities are then transported to and loaded onto deep-draft vessels at ports along the Amazon River in either Santarém or Belém.  However, the Tapajós River offers an opportunity for conversion to a deep draft system where commodities could be directly loaded onto ocean-going vessels.  This is due to the deep-water conditions along the majority of its length and the very low sediment supply, which limits depositional rates of proposed deepening projects.  The Brazilian Department of Transportation Infrastructure (DNIT) together with the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) developed a feasibility study that explored sixteen (16) separate transportation scenarios, including conversion of the Tapajós River to a deep-draft waterway up to Miritituba.  The geologic setting demonstrates the potential for the deep-draft conversion (similar to the Trombetas River – an Amazon tributary in the same geographic region).  A hydrology study combined with the development of a one-dimensional unsteady hydraulic model was used to determine system reliability of each of the proposed scenarios.  In addition, several design tools were developed to estimate the benefit-cost ratio associated with the transportation scenarios.  These tools included: 1) dredging cost estimator for various design vessels, drafts, and channel reliability; 2) sediment transport model to determine future maintenance dredging volumes and costs; and 3) an economic assessorial model to calculate total transportation costs under each scenario.  The alternatives that included deep draft navigation up to Miritituba provided a cost savings of $3.4 per tonne when compared to the current transportation strategies; or a potential future annual savings of over $100 million USD per year.  Average annual dredging costs associated with the deepening scenario is a fraction of the total savings to the navigation sector, resulting in a significant benefit-cost ratio.

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