Rio de Janeiro plans to expand areas for cargo handling

Despite the historical leadership of the Port of Santos, the port complex in Rio de Janeiro continues to compete for cargo, along with other ports in Brazil. However, the president of PortosRio, Francisco Martins, prefers not to use the term that denotes competition. He attended a reception for port authorities on Wednesday (18), hosted by Grupo Tribuna at their headquarters.

“I don't see a competition, but rather a complementarity. For example, when the Port of Santos faced logistical problems regarding container movement, the Port of Rio absorbed that demand and ensured that the sector did not suffer any losses. In other words, we also function with the capacity to respond to any logistical barriers from the ports in the South and Southeast”, he explained.

PortosRio is the Port Authority responsible for managing the public ports in the state of Rio de Janeiro, which includes not only the ports of Rio de Janeiro and Itaguaí but also those of Niterói and Angra dos Reis.

Martins states that the group of ports in Rio is growing and made a small ‘provocation’ to Santos. “Itaguaí will be auctioning, later this year (in October), the so-called mid-area (ITG02), increasing mineral handling by over 27 million tons annually. With this, along with other leases, Santos will soon see us in its rearview mirror. But this is not a competition; it is a complementarity.”

Investments
The increase is justified by the investments being made, according to the president of PortosRio. The 23% growth in cargo movement in the first half of the year compared to the same period last year is an example given by Francisco Martins.

“It’s a port that has projected investments of around R$ 400 million only for contracted works and dredging execution. We are increasing our depth to accommodate ships that are 366 meters long, just as the Port of Itaguaí already does. There are great expectations, with many areas to be leased”, he listed.