Brazil's Future Begins at the Port of Santos

By Mauro Nogarin

Located on the left margin of Santos Port, EMBRAPORT – Empresa Brasileira de Terminais Portuarios (Brazilian Port Terminals Operators) – is an undertaking of Odebrecht Transport in partnership with DP World and Coimex to construct and operate a private port terminal of mixed use. When finished next year, the terminal will have a turnover of two million TEUs (20-foot containers) and two billion liters of bulk liquids. Total investment cost is more than $1 billion.

The construction of the new terminal is motivated by the growth of international commerce in the last decade, which has gone up by 15 percent. The Port of Santos moves about 40 percent of all the containers in Brazil. According to the latest statistics compiled by Containerisation International, the Port of Santos moved up from 43rd to 30th place in world rankings. The port’s economic activity is focused on the industrial and agricultural output of the Sao Paulo region and is also a transit port for the southeastern region of the country and other Mercosur partners.

According to CODESP (Companhia Docas do Estado de São Paulo), cargo volume in the Port of Santos reached 100.8 million tons in the month of September, an increase of nearly five percent. The largest volumes of cargo are sugar, soybeans, coffee and meat. The major destinations are the United States, Russia, China, Europe, Argentina, Venezuela and Chile.

The new terminal in its first phase will begin operations in March 2013 in an 845,500 m² area next to the bulk terminal on the Island of Barnabe, between the Diana and Sandi Rivers on a 1,150 m quay with two piers and a 342,000 m² storage yard and a 60,000 m³ bulk liquid storage facility. It will be equipped with 12 portainers (Post Panamax), 49 gantry cranes, 90 terminal tractors and 12 reach stackers.

The new terminal will connect to the Rodovia Piaçaguera-Guarujá Highway in order to avoid the truck traffic going through the city of Santos, while the MRS railroad will transport cargo from the industrial complex of Baixada Santista in the Sao Paulo Metropolitan area and other surrounding areas. – MarEx

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Mauro Nogarin writes from South America. He can be reached for comments or questions at [email protected].