Cabedelo port contract addendum raises planned works funding to R$71.15 million

The Ministry of Ports and Airports said a R$6.7 million addendum was signed on October 23 to the commitment term for works at the Port of Cabedelo, Paraíba. The ministry reported that the increase takes the project’s total planned investment from R$64.45 million to R$71.15 million. The work covers dredging and rock removal in the inner access channel and turning basin, with the stated purpose of adapting the port to handle larger vessels. The added amount is a contractual funding adjustment, not a new port concession or a completed construction result.

The project is expected to widen the turning basin from 330 metres to 450 metres in diameter. The ministry said the current arrangement permits ships up to 210 metres long, while the completed work is intended to allow vessels up to 330 metres, including cruise ships. These are the source’s design and operational expectations; the release does not say that larger ships can already call at the port or provide an opening date for the enlarged basin.

The funding split in the update assigns R$44.45 million to federal resources and R$26.70 million to the Paraíba state counterpart. The term was signed between the ministry and Companhia Docas da Paraíba, with the state government involved. The release explains that the funding increment follows adjustment clauses in the tender documents and updated values for a preliminary project prepared in April 2025 by the National Institute for Waterway Research. It describes a contract adjustment to preserve the planned works, rather than a revised estimate of all port investment.

The process had reached a contracting milestone in September 2026, when the tender selected DTA Engenharia. The works are to address the internal channel and turning basin through dredging, which removes sediment, and rock removal, which clears material that impedes navigation. Basic and executive project design was scheduled to begin in November 2026; the ministry’s stated schedule places construction start in March 2027 and completion in July 2027. Those dates are forecasts in the release, not evidence that the work has commenced.

The announcement also situates the basin project alongside a separate planned extension of the port’s protective breakwater, estimated at R$40.43 million. The ministry said the breakwater work is intended to improve channel stability and reduce silting. Combined, the two projects represent about R$111.6 million in planned port improvements, but only the basin/channel works are covered by the October 23 addendum. The ministry cited the port’s principal cargoes as petroleum products, petroleum coke, wheat and malt, and said larger-vessel access may also support cruise tourism. The announced dimensions describe vessel geometry and turning space, not a cargo-tonnage limit or a guaranteed number of additional ship calls. The source supplies no forecast for annual cargo throughput after the works.