Bissau, July 24, 2025 (Lusa) - A former board director of Guinea-Bissau’s ports told Lusa on Thursday that he believes only smaller ships will be able to dock in the port of Bissau within three years due to silting.
“Dredging the port of Bissau within three years will ensure that large ships can continue to dock there,” Commander Carlos Silva said. He is one of the first Guinean officers to train in the Merchant Navy.
The official, former director-general of the Guinea-Bissau Port Authority (APGB), said that the level of silting (accumulation of sludge and other debris in the river) “is progressing rapidly.”
“The builders constructed the port at a depth of 14 metres, but now, at high tide, it offers only five metres of depth. This situation requires attention,” said Carlos Silva, former captain of one of Guinea-Bissau’s most iconic ships, the Sambuia, which linked the mainland to the Bijagós Islands.
The pilot expressed concern, but acknowledged the “commitment of the authorities” to dredge the port of Bissau, advising that the work proceed from the “Empernal channel”, which separates the Guinean capital from the town of Cumeré.
Carlos Silva predicts that prompt dredging will control sedimentation, which under normal conditions measures 11 centimetres per year.
“If you multiply 11 centimetres of silt that comes in and stays, in 52 years we will have more or less 5.72 metres of silt above the desired level, in addition to old boats stranded at the bottom of the port and silt from construction around the Geba River in Bissau,” he noted.
According to Commander Carlos Silva’s calculations, at present, in every port where ships and boats dock in Guinea-Bissau, dock operators must carry out dredging to a depth of six metres.
Concerning maritime navigation signs, Commander Silva said that this was “another problem” for the country, as “buoys require deployment and all the lighthouses need relighting”.
“This arrangement benefits the country by ensuring that merchant navy ships that could enter at any time now follow a clear schedule. They sail to the Caio station, pause there until the next day, and a pilot [from Bissau] then guides the ship in,” he observed.
The pilot, who was trained in Brazil, stated that ships wishing to enter the port of Bissau can do so only during daylight hours.
MB/ADB // ADB.
Lusa
