Barão de Teffé port, in the city of Antonina, in the southern Brazilian state of Paraná, which has one of the most modern cold storage cargo terminals in Latin America, Ponta do Félix, is receiving investment of US$ 10 million. The objective is to expand the infrastructure, increasing business opportunities.
The expansion of the commercial pier to 180 meters in length and its structural strengthening, aligned to the possibility of deepening the draft to 7.20 meters, is added to improvement through work in the primary area, with the implementation of patios for maneuvering covering a total area of 32,000 square meters, revitalization of the administrative offices, installation of highway and railway balances and the redoing of the warehouses.
Among the main initiatives are the solid bulk import and the export of products in the General Cargo sector. “We are still in the phase of studies for the implantation of ecological transformation industries, which do not pollute, and customs offices, providing incentives for their installation and production,” stated Leopoldino de Abreu Neto, the port director.
The results of the investment have already started showing. In both 2003 and 2004 the throughput was over a million tons a year, against little over 658,000 tons in 2002. Productivity has also improved.
Today, the average turnaround at the terminal is between 2 and 3 days. In Itajaí, in the southern state of Santa Catarina, vessels that transport the same kind of cargo take between 5 and 6 days. The cold storage terminal exceeded 1.085 million tons in 2004, generating around 1,000 direct jobs.
Among the plans made by the administration of Antonina and Paranaguá Ports for Barão de Teffé are tenders for the port operation customs area and the installation of the Industrial District.
Both of these projects are in their initial phase and are seeking an uninterrupted cargo and revenue flow to the Port. After the end of the viability studies, the works should take 14 months for completion.
Antonina port has characteristics of a feeder port. Established 50 years ago, it was the fourth port terminal built in Brazil and has followed important phases of development in Brazil.
Today the port is the 11th Brazilian port in the country in terms of revenues and the 14th in terms of cargo throughput. The port is of excellence in the operation of barges and has the capacity to receive smaller sized modern vessels, the so-called “Box Shaped”.
Omar Nasser is from the Fiep, Federation of Industries of the State of Paraná.
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