São Sebastião: 30 times more cargo
Gazeta Mercantil - 01/27/2009
Until before the turmoil of the world economy, one of the main subjects in the media was the logistics bottlenecks that obstructed the growth of the Country. The bottlenecks continue the same; one of them is the port system. Thus, if the economic crisis reduced the heat of the discussion, it did not spare São Paulo, for example, from the need of new ports as an alternative to the sea terminal of Santos, the most important one of the Country. It may seem boring and repetitive that the alternative once more falls upon the Port of São Sebastião, on the North coast of the state of São Paulo, long ago revered for its generous harbor depth, 25 meters, capable of receiving large-sized ships, a World trend that is increasingly consolidated among ships on account of the reduction of freight costs. Several times thought of as the solution to the port system of the Southeast region, there is now an integrated project to put São Sebastião among the most important Brazilian terminals for cargo other than oil and its by-products. Frederico Bussinger, vice-president of Companhia Docas de São Sebastião, is working for the port to become important in other types of cargo as well. His forecast is that, in the future (which he does not specify), it can operate a total of 25 million tons of products other than oil and its by-products. Such figure is simply equivalent to a leap of 30 times the volume of 2008, when São Sebastião handled 833 thousand tons in the public wharf. In order to make such projections into reality, Bussinger directed the execution of the so-called Port-City Integrated Plan (Plano Integrado Porto-Cidade), which foresees deep improvements in the general conditions of São Sebastião. The only thing that does not change is the generous depth of the harbor, 25 meters. The project of the new Port of São Sebastião is at a fast pace. Dreamed of in October 2007, it has already gone through several stages of the time chart and is now under the environmental licensing stage both at Daia (state agency) and Ibama, within the Federal sphere. The time chart foresees the public biddings for the lease of the terminals already in the second half of this year. "We know public investments in such big projects are unavoidable. We will undertake such responsibility and the condition of managers, but we want the private initiative as a partner", said Bussinger, summing it up. "The public power knows that it has to play its role so that the suitors can propose to the bride."