Mirassol increases investments for 2010/2011
Valor Econômico
With new contracts closed with car companies, such as MAN, Pirelli and Firestone, and negotiating a proposal from a retailer that alone will require the purchase of 100 trucks, Expresso Mirassol has become more optimistic with 2010. After a bad start in 2009, the company was able to close the year at "zero-to-nothing" in relation to 2008 and, for this year, the idea is to increase the investments: The investments amount to R$ 42 million (US$ 23.3 million) in the two-year period of 2010/2011 - in the previous period, the investments amounted to R$ 33 billion (US$ 17.4 billion).
The company currently has nearly 400 trucks - road tractors - and it works with an equal outsourced number. In the current planning, it intends to buy another 60 road tractors and 120 semi-trailers, but according to Luiz Carlos de Faria Júnior, Corporate Manager of Mirassol, the increase of the fleet can be reviewed in case there are new contracts. At this time, the projection is of 20% growth in the operations in 2010 - in the logistics sector, it is agreed that one point of growth in the GDP is equal to 5% or 6% of growth in the operations. "In our field, more focused on the industrial sector, that percentage should remain at 4%", says Luiz Carlos.
The same factor, however, pulled the results of the sector down when there was retraction. For the officer of Mirassol, the composition of its portfolio - with major presence of the car sector - could help preserve the results, since the field has quickly recovered. But other carriers, which depend upon one major client or aimed at the foreign trade, had very bad results. "There were people who have lost a lot, who had to dispose of assets, return trucks to the Bank", he affirms.
The best contract of Mirassol this year was with MAN Latin America, which will require the setting up of a warehouse and a distribution centre in Guarulhos, and will work 24 hours a day, and receive 100 vehicles a day. 15 new trucks were acquired and the fleet will be customized to cater to the new client.