Port of Santos should triple operations until 2014
Valor Econômico
The port of Santos saw its handling of cargo leap from less than 55 million tons in 2003 to 80 million tons in 2008, an increase of nearly 50% in a period of only five years. The possibility of a boom in operations led the port to prepare a detailed study on the evolution of their demand in the coming years, and the investments required to meet it. The result of an agreement between the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and the Special Secretariat of Ports (SEP), the study indicates the port authority needs to seek facilities capable of handling 230 million tons - three times the current volume - in 15 years.
The document, first of its kind in view of its scope, includes mathematical simulations on trends in the world economy, features the growth rates of the GDP of each country, of the foreign exchange, values of goods and cost of different means of transportation, amongst other indicators. The study already indicates deficiencies in the port, such as in the area of liquid bulk cargos, fertilizers, and sulfur, and it gives support to plans to change the access to Santos, based on the road means of transportation which is about to collapse.
Winners in a competitive bidding, North American Louis Berger group and Brazilian Internave have just delivered Codesp (the São Paulo State Port Company) the result of nearly six months of work at the cost of US$ 1.3 million, US$ 1 million of which was disbursed by the IDB and the other US$ 300 million by SEP. "It is a gift Codesp received and it will not be resting on the shelf. We are verifying the numbers and scenarios presented to take the new Development and Zoning Plan to the Port Authority Council (CAP) until the end of the first half of 2010", assesses Engineer Renato Barco, Director of Strategic Planning and Control of Codesp.
At the same time, the State company received a project of the Laboratory of Transport of the USP (University of São Paulo), outlining the policy to be implemented to improve the accessibility to the port. "It is necessary to make the cargo that is to get to Santos feasible and to do so we sought the contribution of the USP", explains the Director of Codesp. Barco reveals that one of the main focuses of the project is the increase of the railroad means of transportation in the transportation of cargo to the port, currently at nearly 15%. He also foresees the convenience of using alternative means for the cargo to get to and leave the private terminals, such as a pipeline, the waterway system of the Baixada Santista Region and conveyor belts to ores.
The total horizon of the work of Louis Berger and Internave will go up to 2024, divided into three periods of five years, with optimistic, pessimistic and "baseline" forecasts. In the best-case scenario, the estimate is 229.73 million tons, while in the pessimistic one it is 137.42 million tons and 180.75 million tons in the "baseline" concept. Santos expects to end 2009 with 82.1 million tons, 1.2% above last year.