China Merchants Port confirmed the acquisition of the Port Terminal of Paranagua (TCP) in southern Brazil; a purchase that will help the company position itself as a leader in Latin American port activity.
"We will work to make TCP one of the main business platforms between Brazil and China. Our goal is to become leaders in Latin America," said Lu Yongxin, the vice president of the Chinese firm.
According to Lu Yongxin, the progress in the region is part of an initiative that China launched five years ago that aims at connecting more than sixty countries in Asia, Europe, and Africa by coordinating policies and infrastructure.
This is the first Chinese state investment in a Latin American port linked to the aforementioned international cooperation initiative. China Merchants Group, China's largest port group, acquired 90% stake in the TCP for 30 years in 2017, where one in four containers is destined for trade between Brazil and China.
"The TCP's capacity is the second largest in Brazil. It is the only container terminal in Parana, and it is in a protected bay, "said Lu, who added that the main commercial ports in Brazil were in Parana, San Pablo, and Santa Catarina, which together account for 45% of the country's population.
Lu also affirmed that the international cooperation project allowed expanding the new route from the Far East to the south-east of South America, by going from the TCP to the east of North America; which will give its users more options and decrease logistics cost.
"China is Brazil's largest importer of agricultural products, and Brazil is the largest importer of Chinese manufactured products, of every four containers, one is coming or going to China," said the Chinese official.
The CEO of the TCP, Luiz Antonio Alves, told Xinhua that Paranagua had everything that was needed to further develop the China-Brazil relationship. "We are expanding the terminal, to increase our annual movement of 1.5 million containers to 2.4 million," he said.
Meanwhile, the director of operations of the Port Authority of Paranagua (APPA), Luiz Teixeira, said that the port mobilized 51.5 million tons in 2017 and that they expected a 2% growth this year.
Source: marcotradenews.com