ALL wants to double size in five years
Valor Econômico
Capitalized and with the incorporation of Brasil Ferrovias already concluded, ALL - America Latina Logística outlines ambitious plans for the future. The company, with a railroad network of more than 21 thousand kilometers in Brazil and Argentina, aims at doubling its size within five years. That means doubling the net income of R$ 2.7 billion (US$ 1.57 billion) projected for this year, according to analysts. Bernardo Hees, President of ALL since 2005, says this is the outlined goal, but he avoids making a projection of the earnings. Hees points out that there is a varied portfolio of projects. Some have already been announced and are in progress and others are either maturing or under study, which will leverage the volume of cargo of the company. The company seeks to grow more in the industrial segment, which gained strength in the railroad with the crisis, and it wants to increase its participation in grains. It currently ranges from 40% to 45%.
One of these projects is the partnership with the Cosan group, announced this year, for setting up of a platform for the transport of sugar from the interior of São Paulo to Santos. It will add ALL nearly 10 million tons of cargo of the product until 2013. The investment of R$ 1.2 billion (US$ 697.7 million) - in the railroad network, locomotives, wagons and loading terminals and in the port - will be made by Rumo Logística, a company controlled by Cosan. The investment of the company itself is budgeted at R$ 1 billion (US$ 581.4 million) in the coming year, taking into account the R$ 300 million (US$ 174.4 million) that are being applied in the expansion of the railroad up to Rondonópolis. The works of the 260 Km segment will take three years, with a total disbursement of R$ 700 million (US$ 407 million). The work is 90% funded by the BNDES (National Development Bank) and 10% funded by the FI-FGTS (Investment Fund of the Employment Security Fund).
The expectation of Hees is that ALL continues investing nearly R$ 700 million (US$ 407 million) a year in the coming years. The value's justification is to maintain the purchase of 50 locomotives and 1.2 thousand wagons a year. In 2010 alone, ALL will have to buy 30 thousand tons of rails, a material that is fully imported. The investment amounted to R$ 650 million (US$ 378 million) and the railroad increased its staff by 300 locomotive operators.
Another business front in which ALL plans on growing is that of container transportation, so as to compete with MRS Logística. According to the Executive, the goal is to have 40% of the operations at the port of Santos within five to seven years. Today, its share amounts to mere 1%. The estimate of investment is R$ 600 million (US$ 348.8 million). ALL wants to start the double stack system in the transport of containers in the country - it sees this system, which places two containers into one single wagon, as the only path to face the road modal.
In the portfolio of projects, ALL analyzes installing a grain terminal at the port of Santos - similar to the one it has in Paranaguá, with Mitsui. It is a retroarea for the storage and unloading of up to 120 thousand tons. It has commenced conversations with Vale with a view to a plan for the transport of iron ore from the mine it has in Corumbá (MS). The mining company has already announced it is developing a project to increase these operations in the future.