Brazil to Spend Up to 1 Billion Reais to Expand Santos Port, Minister Says

Brazil plans to spend as much as 1 billion reais ($566 million) to double capacity at Santos Port, Latin America’s biggest, Ports Minister Pedro Brito said.

The investment would allow the port to handle 6 million containers per year by 2015 compared with 3 million now, Brito said yesterday in an interview in Brasilia. The government will auction the rights for the expansion early next year, he said.

Brazil is encouraging companies, such as Cosan SA Industria & Comercio and MRS Logistica, to invest as much as $18 billion in the country’s 21 ports in the next five years to fight deteriorating infrastructure that makes exporters less competitive, Brito said. The investment would help Brazil increase the use of goods transported by water to 29 percent of the total in 15 years from a current 13 percent, he said.

The expansion includes building a platform on the outskirts of the port to store goods from trains and trucks and reduce traffic jams, Brito said. The goods would later be carried to the port by small boats, he said.

“Access to the Port of Santos is its biggest problem today and it needs heavy investment,” Brito said. “Luckily, there are plenty of companies interested in bidding for the expansion.”

To contact the reporter on this story: Katia Cortes in Brasilia at at kcortes@bloomberg.net Carla Simoes in Brasilia at csimoes1@bloomberg.net

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