11/03/2008 10h40
Area of the Port of Santos to double with new terminals
Folha de S. Paulo - 11/03/2008
Port of Santos will double its size. Codesp (São Paulo Docks Company) waits for the signature of a presidential decree that will expand the current limits of the country's biggest port, responsible for 25% of the Brazilian foreign trade, from 7.7 million to 15 million square meters. The draft of the decree has already been analyzed by the Antaq (National Agency of Water Transportation) and by the SEP (Special Secretariat of Ports) and awaits the signature of the President da Silva. The strategy is part of the federal plan to raise the capacity of moving cargo in Santos, from 100 million to more than 200 million tons, a great part of that expansion made from new containers terminals. Since last Wednesday Codesp, SEP and technicians of the IBD (Inter-American Bank of Development) have started discussions to elaborate a new master plan of investments. The elaboration of a new model of rent contract that will be applied to the new and current bid projects, based on the foreseen five-year reviews is part of this plan. The geographic expansion of the port also corrects a problem. The Barnabé-Bagres mega project, in stage of study by the groups Santos Brasil and Libra, is about 80% outside the limits of the organized port, delimited by parallel 23. "The decree will set the limits of the port of Santos, which is defined only by two parallels today. We need to have the polygonal lines to close the port's area", explains José Roberto Serra, president of Codesp. With the definition of the new geographic coordinates, the Federal Government will start having the right to develop the port over private areas, with the publication of expropriation decrees as needed. The review of the rent contracts and the expansion of the port are part of a restructuring plan of Codesp's. The company has plans to go public in a year and a half. It would be the first docks company with traded stocks.
