Ports to have new 20-year plan, says Minister
DCI
The port sector in Brazil will have another plan besides the plan of grants. The new plan will foresee actions for the next 20 years, as informed Pedro Brito, Minister of the Ports. The ministry will have R$ 30 million (US$ 17.4 million) available to carry out the studies, which may be made by the Military Institute of Engineering (IME, in Portuguese) and have also interested the technical team of the port of Rotterdam, in the Netherlands. The measure shall be added to the indications of the General Plan of Grants (PGO), which is undergoing revision. The document was outlined by the National Water Transportation Agency (Antaq) and identified 45 potential locations for the implementation of new sea ports or terminals.
According to the Minister, the secretariat works towards the progress of the ports with guidelines aimed at a greater professionalism, focusing on the optimization of the management to obtain operational and financial results that include the increase of the funds of the tenders and that these funds are used for dredging (deepening), for instance, and in the implementation of international safety standards for the ports.
Another aspect laid down by the head of the docks is the matter of the investments that have been made in accesses to the ports, both through road and railroados, and have been accompanied with expectation by the sector, such as the São Paulo Beltway, the Rio de Janeiro Ring Road, the access to the Port of Suape (PE), the North-South and East-West railway lines and Transnordestina (railroad that connects the Port of Suape, in Recife, to the Port of Pecem, in Fortaleza). "We have to pay closer attention to the waterways that are disconnected from the port system. They should be part of the same strategic view in a fully integrated system", said Brito. Two years ago, nearly 40 containers were carried per hour in Brazil and the projection for 2015 is that this number should increase to 73 units per hour, a demand that, leaving the ports, flows, mainly, through the road modal. The proposal is to organize the logistics chain and redistribute the flows with the other transport modals, so as to prevent the total collapse of the system in the coming years.
New adaptations may also be added to the legislation that guides the sector in the Country, not only in order to optimize the public system, but also to facilitate the work on private initiative, responsible for heavy investments in the area, both in the area of concessions, and in the private terminals. The Port of Santos has as example of projects with private investments the Embraport mega-terminal that will cost nearly R$ 1.1 billion (US$ 639.5 million) and involves major shareholders like the Odebrecht and Coimex groups. Another case of Santos is the terminal of containers that will consume R$ 1.6 billion (US$ 930.2 million), the result of a partnership between Brasil Terminais Portuários (BTP) and the maritime carrier MSC. Yesterday, the Companhia das Docas do Estado de São Paulo (Codesp, the São Paulo State Port Company) announced an extension for January 2010 for delivery of the feasibility studies ordered by the private initiative for the Barnabé-Bagres project, which aims at doubling the handling capacity of the Port of Santos.