São Paulo – Established late last year, Brado Logística announced on Wednesday (6) that the company should invest 1 billion reals (US$ 621 million) in cargo transport over the next five years. This was one more announcement of investment in infrastructure and logistics made at the Intermodal fair, the largest in the transport and logistics sector in Latin America, which ended on Thursday.
Company president José Luis Demeterco said that the company already has between 150 million reals (US$ 93 million) and 200 million reals (US$ 124 million) to invest in 2011 and 2012. Brado also has money in the till and a pre-approved line of credit to obtain loans. Of all investment, 80% should be in locomotives, railway vehicles and lorries and another 20% in terminals.
The company was established late last year, after the mergers of the container division of América Latina Logística (ALL) and Standard Logística, headquartered in Paraná. ALL, the largest railway operator in Brazil, has an 80% share of the business, and the Standard partners, the remaining 20%.
Different from ALL, Brado should concentrate its services on companies with low volumes of cargo, on the retail sector and on pulverisation of customers. Demeterco said that the service that Brado provides is little explored in Brazil and added that, in the understanding of smaller clients, the company should also contribute to remove lorries from highways. But not all, as there are small stretches that cannot be supplied by trains. "It is a new business in Brazil," he said.
According to the president at Brado, containers answer to 2% of the cargo transported by trains. "We want to reach 12% in coming years. We are the first company to make this investment and create know-how in the container transport market," he said.
Other companies also made use of the Intermodal to announce investment in the sector of infrastructure. Santos Brasil purchased an area of 2.1 million square meters six kilometres away from Imbituba port, in Santa Catarina, in the south of Brazil. The piece of land is just off highway BR-101 and should be used for cold storage and container storage, regulation patio and cargo movement. The main target with the purchase of this area is exporters and importers. The 22 million real (US$ 14 million) investment is added to 283 million reals (US$ 176 million) recently invested in expansion of Imbituba port dock, in the purchase of equipment and redoing of warehousing.
The commercial director at Santos Brasil, Mauro Salgado said that investment in the region is focussed on companies in Santa Catarina and Rio Grande do Sul. He observes that the infrastructure sector should receive incentives from the Federal Government and stated that the demand of exporters in the south of Brazil justifies investment. "Still this year, the government should conclude the expansion of the draft at Santos Port [in São Paulo], from 11 meters to 15 metres. For this reason, large companies in maritime transport have announced that they will bring larger vessels here. And, with the PAC 2 (the second phase of the Growth Acceleration Program of Brazil), Imbituba port should also be contemplated with a draft expansion. These vessels cannot go to Itajaí port, [also in Santa Catarina], so Imbituba will be an option," said Salgado.
Bottlenecks
Transport infrastructure bottlenecks are constantly identified as hindrances to Brazil’s growth, thus the importance of large-scale investment in the area. Salgado pointed out, however, that on discussing the theme, it is necessary to observe the particularities of each sector.
Demeterco, from Brado, added that the lack of infrastructure in some sectors may, on the other hand, bring opportunities. "The bottlenecks are there, but they created the chance of building railways. We may now have trains taking the product from the port to the factory, straight, with no need for the use of lorries in some cases. Thus, lorries will not spend days waiting for cargo. But ports must be prepared to receive more trains," he finished off.
*Translated by Mark Ament
