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APM Terminals signs a one-year RoRo contract in a bid to diversify

Dec, 07, 2018 Posted by datamarnews

Week 201850

Itajaí port concessionaire, APM Terminals, predominantly a container terminal, signed a one year contract to receive Ro-Ro vessels to import vehicles. It is believed that the terminal will move approximately 40,000 units in 2019 after having moved close to 13,000 vehicles this year. This diversification is in line with what a growing trend by container terminals to diversify in a bid to compete with the bigger players, such as DP World and Terminal Link.

APM Terminals has seen a roller coaster trip over the last ten years. After being hit by a major flood in November 2008 which rendered three berths completely unusable, and having recovered against all the odds despite fierce competition from its neighbor Portonave and the loss of important services over the years, the terminal has seen a recovery in container volumes over the past two years.

According to DataLiner, APM Itajaí is now seeing better days. This year exports of full, long-haul containers have risen 49.78% to 144,204 TEU in the first ten months of 2018 YoY. According to Itajaí Port Authority, volumes including empties and cabotage during the same period reached 320,225 TEU, up 82.2% YoY.

The graphs below show Itajaí’s recovery over the past two years, as well as the dramatic change in the region’s container terminal activity after the floods and the introduction of Portonave. A further graph shows how exports have dominated the port since 2015 when the most recent recession began and how imports are beginning to recover as the economy gradually bounces back.

Supporting Sources:

https://www.joc.com/port-news/south-american-ports/new-ro-ro-and-container-rebound-lifts-apm-terminal-itaja_20181101.html

New ro-ro and container rebound lifts APM Terminal Itajaí

Itajai this year has received seven roll-on, roll-off vessels and is slated to handle more through November and December. The terminal will have handled about 13,000 vehicles by year end and aims to ramp up its handling by 40,000 vehicles annually over the next few years.
APM Terminals Itajai is working to diversify away from solely container handling and has made inroads with a new agreement with General Motors and auto car carriers “K” Line and MOL while also boosting container volume.
In recent years APM Terminals Itajai has lost cargo to Portonave, operating on a greenfield site (which is cheaper owing to lower labor costs), and to Porto Itapoa. Portonave is across the Itajai-Acu River in Navegantes from the APM Terminal facility, and Porto Itapoa, run by a consortium that includes Hamburg Sud, is roughly 160 kilometers away.
Itajai this year has received seven roll-on, roll-off vessels and is slated to handle more through November and December. The terminal will have handled about 13,000 vehicles by year end and aims to ramp up its handling by 40,000 vehicles annually over the next few years.
GM Chevrolet has begun importing vehicles for the south and southeast regions of Brazil through its 60,000 square meter facility in Joinville — 58 miles from Itajai. The facility, opened in 2020, was originally focused on producing powertrain components for domestically sold Chevrolet vehicles.
APM Terminals Itajai’s container volume is also rebounding, with volume in October doubling from the same period last year, to 38,717 TEU. That follows 40,695 TEU of volume in August, the stronger monthly traffic since 2012. Container traffic through the terminal is up 40 percent over the last year, to slightly less than 400,000 TEU, tracking close to its record throughput of 416,000 TEU in 2012.
The attraction of two deepseas services — the Brazex service to the US Gulf and Caribbean as well as the SamWaf service to South Africa and Mercosur trade bloc coastal service — have helped drive the growth.

Ro-ro rebound

Heder Cassiano Moritz, the executive director for the Itajai Port Authority (IPA) said that the ro-ro business was “very welcome” and was a greatly appreciated addition to cargo handling for Itajai, and the additional liner services were also a “massive booster,” especially after Itajai has lost so much cargo in recent years, much of it to Itapoa and Portonave.
“Around the year 2000 there was a regular service from Grimaldi and it lasted around a year, but nothing since then in Itajai,” said Robert Grantham, a director for consultancy Solve Shipping and former commercial director for IPA.
He said Peugeot imported vehicles but stopped after opening their own plan in Rio de Janeiro. With ro-ro traffiic rebounding, GM could tap Itaji or Itapoa, Gratham said.
Sources in Itajai and Joinville, where GM has several facilities, told JOC.com that GM is also keen to run a few “experimental” calls at Porto Itapoa, the container handling rival to APM Terminals Itajai, but nothing concrete has been timetabled yet.
Joinville is the industrial hub and largest city — with about 520,000 inhabitants — of the wealthy southern state of Santa Catarina and is a good location from which to distribute automobiles around the south (25 million people) and southeast (82 million) regions of Brazil. These include the wealthy states of Rio Grande, Paraná, São Paulo, Minas Gerais, and Rio de Janeiro as well as Santa Catarina.

Other smaller container terminals struggling to compete with international players, such as DP World (at DP World Santos) and Terminal Link (at Brasil Terminal Portuaria in Santos), have also diversified to survive, venturing into warehousing and much more less-than-containerload cargoes (Rodrimar, Ecoporto Santos, and Libra Terminais) and even handling live cattle for export (Ecoporto Santos), although that has since been curtailed after animal rights protests.

APM Terminals assina contrato de um ano para operação de veículos em Itajaí

Desde novembro, a APM Terminals, arrendatária do Porto de Itajaí, passou a atender com frequência quinzenal navios do tipo Ro-Ro (roll-on, roll-off) para a importação de veículos. O contrato, com validade de um ano, foi assinado após a realização de operações teste em Itajaí com linhas marítimas provenientes de diferentes países, entre eles os Estados Unidos, México, Brasil e Argentina.
“A atração deste novo serviço é o resultado de um estudo cuidadoso sobre os potenciais oferecidos por Itajaí, sem comprometer a razão de existir do nosso terminal, que é a operação de contêiner. A movimentação de carros será desempenhada com o objetivo de atender as melhores práticas do mercado no quesito eficiência, além de total conformidade com as diretrizes de segurança e qualidade determinadas pelas montadoras e praticadas pela empresa”, destacou Ricardo Arten, Diretor Superintendente da APM Terminals Brasil.
“A expectativa é de movimentar até 40 mil carros por meio deste contrato. No entanto, o potencial desta operação para o segmento automotivo em geral é ainda maior, especialmente pela localização privilegiada de Itajaí como centro de distribuição para as regiões Sul e Sudeste por meio da conexão direta com importantes estradas federais”, explicou José Bechara, diretor comercial da APM Terminals Brasil.
Para a execução do serviço, uma série de cuidados são necessários a fim de prevenir riscos de avarias nos veículos movimentados e os procedimentos adotados seguem rigorosamente as definições das montadoras. Os profissionais envolvidos no descarregamento dos carros, por exemplo, devem usar jalecos especiais sem botões, não podem usar cintos, nem alianças, anéis, relógios ou qualquer outro adorno. Os trabalhadores portuários foram devidamente preparados e qualificados para a operação, além de terem participação fundamental na elaboração da proposta comercial e na competitividade da operação.
Os carros descarregados passam por uma inspeção em armazém coberto e iluminado dentro do porto, o que garante ainda mais qualidade no serviço. Após inspeção, os veículos seguem para armazenagem por um curto período de tempo em um pátio externo, localizado a 1 quilômetro do terminal, o qual dispõe de arruamento, demarcação de vagas e é devidamente equipado com rampas especiais para os caminhões-cegonha, que fazem a logística terrestre dos carros.

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