Itajai (Brazil)

Itajai is a port city in Brazil's Santa Catarina state, with population around 220,000. The town was founded in 1860, but the colonization started in 1658 by Portuguese colonists from Madeira and Azores.

The city is located at the mouth of Rio Itajai (Itajai-Acu River) and on the Atlantic Ocean's coast. Here is homeported Brazil's largest fishing fleet. Also here is the state's largest university (Univali). The city hosts one of the biggest Brazilian music festivals (held in October).

The local economy is based mainly on shipping trade.

Itajai Port (locode BRITJ) handles ~1,6% of the country's total export of goods, ranking it as Brazil's 8th biggest exporter. Most of the export goods are animal products, followed by poultry meat, pork and other processed and preserved meats, including frozen bovine meat.

On December 9, 2022, the Municipality of Itajai (via SPI-Superintendence of the Port) signed with APM Terminals (currently the world's largest cargo port management company/The Hague Netherlands-based) a Temporary Lease Agreement/transitory contract for Port Itajai, which allowed APM Terminals to continue to operate the Port.

For season 2024-2025, the Port's schedule listed 39 cruise ship calls (booked berthings) with expected ~155,000 passengers. For season 2025-2026 were scheduled 46 calls and 195,000+ passengers. Itajai also serves as a homeport/departure port for South America-based vessels from the fleets of Costa and MSC. The Port often handles transit calls from smaller-sized luxury ships.

Itajai cruise terminal