From the Newsroom
São Paulo – For the first time, São Sebastião port, on the northern coast of the state of São Paulo, the most industrialized in Brazil, is going to ship vehicles produced in Brazil regularly. A shipping of 1,400 Volkswagen cars, of the Gol (hatchback), and Parati (station wagon) models, and 100 Mercedes-Benz truck chassis will be shipped to Argentina on Sunday (18) from the terminal istered by Dersa (the Brazilian Highway Development Authority), a company connected to the State Transport Secretariat.
The shipping, according to a secretariat spokesperson, is the result of a contract signed between port istration and shipping company Mitsui. Up to December, when the agreement expires, a monthly total of 2,000 vehicles will be shipped to the neighbouring country.
With this, the state government wants to take the first step into transforming São Sebastião port into a new export rout, an alternative to the port of Santos. The terminal, which is istered by Dersa, is beside a terminal operated by oil company Petrobras, in a channel between the city of São Sebastião and the island of Ilhabela. The product that is mostly shipped there, according to the spokesperson, is Sodium Carbonate, or soda ash, used in the production of soap and glass.
According to information supplied by the secretariat, the government has invested over US$ 17 million in the last three years to make this alternative possible. The latest works, finished around one month ago, was the paving of a 22,000 square meter deposit to store cars.
Apart from that, according to information supplied by the government, improvement access routs to São Sebastião port have been improved, with the broadening and duplication of highways.
For August, Dersa intends to conclude the installation of two new dolphins at the port, that is, locations where ships may dock so as to wait for their turn to load or unload. For the time being, only one ship can load or unload at a time.
Increase
Apart from the expansion work that has been completed and that is under way, Dersa is finishing a project for port expansion, forecasting the construction of a new "L shaped access bridge," which could receive another two "docking berths," and the increase in port waters so as to be able to take ships with drafts of up to 14 metres, against the current 8.5 metres. A "docking berth" is the place where a vessel docks so as to be loaded.
With this work, state Transport secretary Dario Rais Lopes believes that in five years the port will be able to move around 3 million tonnes of cargo per year, against the current 400,000 annual tonnes. This capacity is much lower than that of Santos port, which shipped a total of 60 million tonnes of cargo last year and forecasts the moving of 65 million tonnes in 2004.
The secretariat stated, however, that costs for shipping from São Sebastião are around 40% lower than in Santos.
Future investment, however, will depend on the companies interested in using the terminal. The government is betting on easy access to industrial regions around the city of Campinas and in the Paraíba valley, and Dersa is already in negotiations with the carmakers installed in both these regions.
