In a statement, the Algarve municipality said that it had sent a written communication to “alert the authorities to the need for urgent interventions in Lagos port”.

The municipality recalled that, in 2022, it made a first appeal to the entities responsible for port infrastructures to act in the area, where “at the time, the situations that inspired greater care were the lack of safety and navigability conditions in the Lagos port bar”.

The municipality highlighted that, due to the lack of safety conditions, “several situations of vessel strandings were recorded at the site, causing a serious impact on the economic activities of the sea sector, particularly in the fishing sectors, maritime-tourist activities, sports and of ship repair”.

Although “emergency dredging” was carried out at the time, after two years “the insecurity and poor navigability conditions of the Lagos port bar and the Ribeira de Bensafrim channel returned and gave rise to concern”, justified the Algarve Chamber.

Added to these difficulties are “fears about the advanced state of degradation of the pier adjacent to Forte Ponta da Bandeira and the situation of the Solaria pier”, he added.

The Lagos Chamber said that it received a response from the Secretary of State for the Sea stating that “the dredging of the port of Lagos is foreseen in the Pluriannual Dredging Plan for the Ports of the Algarve 2024-26” and that the public contracting and carrying out the procedure of the planned interventions will only be launched when an environmental impact study has been completed.

“Considering that the plan itself identifies the need to dredge the bar and the foreport annually, the Chamber views the continuation of this situation with apprehension”, the municipality stated.