Santos Brasil has just opened its second distribution centre in the country. Located in the neighborhood of Jaguaré, in São Paulo, the undertaking is the result of the increased in the portfolio of clients that increasingly more need logistics services, in the wake of the company's strategy of offering "port-to-door" solutions, and vice-versa. Notwithstanding the driving force of the company be the operation of port terminals - Santos (SP), Vila do Conde (PA) and Imbituba (SC) -, the participation of the logistics unit gets to 18% of the earnings of the group. In the first half, it was responsible for R$ 74.2 million (US$ 43.7 million) of the total gross revenue, which stayed at R$ 408.5 million (US$ 240.3 million)."We want to associate more and more logistics options to operations originating or ending in the port. The logistics business is not limited by time and space, unlike the public concession of container terminals. Our great task is to develop Santos Brasil as a group in that area and new businesses. That will assure the durability of the company", says the administrative officer of the company, Mauro Salgado. Even with the new center, however, the participation of the logistics unit in the earnings should stay practically stable. The decision of having a second distribution center in São Paulo - the first is located in São Bernardo do Campo - had been studied hard, but it was triggered as of the arrival of a new customer: Mercedes-Benz, which already imports through the port terminal of the company in Santos. After nearly a year negotiating, Santos Brasil will also take over the logistics flow of cargo of the maker involving the plant of the company in the Metropolitan Region of São Paulo known as ABC Paulista. Only in imports, where is concentrated the greatest volume, nearly 300 containers a month are unloaded from ships and taken up the Serra do Mar (a ridge) towards the plant of the company in São Bernardo. The estimate is that the contract with Mercedes generates 45 thousand orders a month. To adapt the center to the operation, nearly R$ 10 million (US$ 5.9 million) are being invested, including the purchase of 21 trucks, 35 semi-trailers and four forklifts, highlights Salgado.Since the demand of Mercedes will consume nearly half the capacity of the center of São Bernardo (of 40 thousand pallet positions), the company has decided to bet on the second unit, which will increase 65% the storage offer of Santos Brasil Logística. The center of Jaguaré has capacity for up to 23,500 pallets and it is located beside Marginal Pinheiros, a strategic route for trucks bound to the port of Santos. The structure was rented for 10 years with unrestricted possibility of extension, and that is the reason the investments, which amount to R$ 6 million (US$ 3.5 million), shall be apply in the acquisition of a new fleet of trucks, equipment and systems. In addition, 70 professionals are being hired. Another recently closed contract that has boosted the new undertaking was the one entered into with =Próxima, a multi-channel distributor (B2B and B2C). Initially the operation should start with up to 2 thousand pallet positions a month of Brown line products (which gather TV sets, sound systems and electric and electronic devices, among others) and items for the bed, kitchen and bath. The work includes the storage and distribution for more than 20 thousand customers of +Próxima, made up of retailers from all around the country.
