With surplus of containers, TPI seeks bulks
Valor Econômico
The public hearing is scheduled for April and environmental prior license may be issued until October this year. The Brites - today only a piece of land to the right side of the estuary -, an ambitious project of Triunfo Participações e Investimentos (TPI), is closer to becoming true, and it begins featuring a clearer business plan. It will feature a basic difference compared to the others: it will not focus on containers, as have chosen the Embraport, of Odebrecht, and Brasil Terminal Portuário (BTP), of the Italian shipowner MSC.
In the view of TPI, between 2014 and 2019 the Port of Santos will have a surplus of container capacity with the new investments, and it should become more attractive for the carriage of bulk with the expansion of the railway network in the country. Only the two new projects of Embraport and BTP should more than double the current capacity of Santos, at 3 million TEUs (Twenty-Foot Equivalent Units). In the projection of the port management, in 2019 it will have capacity to operate 10.8 million TEUs, but a demand for 6.2 million TEUs. According to Carlo Botarelli, President of TPI, another novelty will be the inauguration of the extension of Ferronorte, in Mato Grosso, and the conclusion of the Norte-Sul, which should facilitate the access of the harvest from the Midwest to the port of Santos. He also believes the current model, which concentrates bulk cargo on the left margin of the port, entering the city of Santos, is saturated.
In accordance with the project, the Brites will have 700 thousand square meter yard, a 900 meter quay, sufficient for three large size vessels, capacity for 4 million tons of grain, 2 million tons of liquid, and a refrigerated cargo terminal for up to 200 thousand containers a year. In order to make the project feasible, since it will cost nearly R$ 1 billion (US$ 556 million), Botarelli says he wants to attract three partners: a trading or producer of grains, another producer of ethanol and a meat exporter, to become the holder of 50% of the project. With that, TPI also hopes to adjust to the restriction of the Antaq (National Water Transportation Agency) that prevents private terminals from operating with cargo of third parties - the three partners will carry their own cargo.