Royal HaskoningDHV has played an important role in plans to build a 500m tunnel for Brazil’s largest seaport, Santos.
The tunnel will link the cities of Santos and Guarujá on either side of the fairway leading to Brazil’s most important port.
The advice provided by the engineers was instrumental in the decision by authorities in São Paulo to opt for an immersed tunnel. A bridge was ruled out because of the costs and the adverse impact on the city. The tunnel will relieve the burden on the existing passenger ferry services and significantly reduce driving time for freight vehicles, which currently make a detour of 50km when travelling to and from the port.
The technology required for immersed tunnels is highly developed in the Netherlands and has been used for projects there including the Second Coen Tunnel (Amsterdam), the Second Benelux Tunnel (Rotterdam) and two tunnels in the route of the HSL-Zuid high-speed rail link. Immersed tunnels are also under construction at various other places in the world.
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