Port of Santos will have four other docking berths
Valor Econômico - 07/04/2008
The port of Santos is being prepared to offer another four berthing places for the operation of container ships, which will represent an increase of about one million TEUs (20 feet units) to its current capacity of three million. In 2007, the port had activities of 2.5 million of TEUs, and a growth of 3% is expected for this year. Investments in infra-structure to put the place in bidding conditions amount to US$ 515 million. The Project foresees the evacuation of a total area of 541 thousand m², occupied by slums, and the transfer of 2.5 thousand families from the place. Codesp (São Paulo State Docks Company) and the administration of the municipality of Guarujá signed an agreement for such. This operation will have around R$ 107 million (US$ 66,9 million) in funds from the Growth Acceleration Program (PAC), by means of an agreement with the Federal Savings Bank. The areas called Prainha and Conceiçãozinha go as far as the Santos estuary and have negative impact on the international and the touristic navigation, due to their extreme poverty. They are respectively neighbors of the Vehicles Exportation Terminal (TVE) of Santos Brasil, which has the greatest container volume operations of the country, and of Cargill, which operates with solid bulks. The containers market in Santos, which includes the left bank, on Guarujá's side, is disputed for at least three other companies: Libra, Tecondi, and Rodrimar. Codesp's president, José Di Bella Filho, linked this expansion capacity of the port of Santos to other regional actions, which include the deepening of the navigation canal to 15 meters and its widening from 150 meters to 220 meters, "allowing that the port receives ships of up to 9 thousand TEUs", instead of the current 5 thousand TEUs. According to Codesp, since the new houses should be ready in 2010, the tender will be held after that and the engineering works should be concluded in 2012.