Terminal in Santos to have six new portainers
Valor Econômico - 07/23/2008
Owner of the largest containers terminal of the country, in the left side of the port of Santos, Santos Brasil is investing to reach the same productivity of the ports installed in Europe and Asia. The company acquired six super-post-Panamax generation portainers (cranes mounted over tracks that run along the side of a ship), from the Chinese group ZPMC, with electronic technology provided by German Siemens. With capacity to handle two containers filled full with 40 feet or four TEUs (20 feet each) at the same time, the equipment operates until the 19th row of width of containers, common in vessels that carry up to 10 thousand TEUs. The company guarantees there is no other like it in the American continent. Each piece of equipment has a cost of US$ 8.5 million and such portainers have the mission of increasing by 50% the current capacity of the equipment per hold. The company performed 25 moves per hour and it expects to increase it to 38. Until 2015, the goal is to more than double the operations of the terminal, from the 1.350 million TEUs expected in 2008 to 3.0 million TEUs. In 2007, the port of Santos handled the equivalent to 2.5 million TEUs, 49% through Santos Brasil. With the civil works of Tecon 4, the new berth the company will conclude in December and intends to explore after February, 2009, with 220 meters of docks and 112 thousand square meters of retroarea, plus the purchase of 12 rubber-tyred gantry cranes (RTGs), in the unit value of 1.1 million Euros, the total investments will achieve R$ 280 million (US$ 175 million), according to Antonio Carlos Duarte Sepúlveda, Operations Officer. The director interprets there is synergy going on between the dredging of the port and the terminals. "The impact will be huge. Shipowners have ordered several ships with up to 6 thousand TEUs for such route. The decision of Santos Brasil to place orders for new pieces of equipment took into account that the problem of harbor depth was being solved", he said. Codesp projects to increase the depth of Santos to 15 meters.