Rio de Janeiro – The revolution experienced by the Brazilian naval industry is multiplying the number of onshore jobs. The country, which was the world’s third leading ship builder in the 1970s, saw the sector go virtually bankrupt in the two decades that followed. Now, shipyards celebrate the resumption of growth. The success is mostly driven by the oil industry, boosted by the pre-salt layer discoveries, and also by the government’s decision to encourage maritime and fluvial transport, which had been long forgotten, replaced by road transport.
In the last ten years, direct jobs generated in the sector have leaped from 1,900 in the year 2000 to 46,500 in 2009. By 2014, the year in which the FIFA World Cup will be hosted by Brazil, direct job positions should reach 60,000, and indirect ones, 240,000, enough to fill three football stadiums to maximum capacity. The data were culled from the report Scenario 2010 – 1st Quarter, by the National Union of the Naval and Offshore Construction and Repair Industry (Sinaval). The full report is available on the internet.
The continuation of that growth should put Brazil back among the world’s leading countries in naval construction, thanks to the government’s decision to privilege investment in domestic shipyards, as informed by the minister of Ports, Pedro Britto. He forecasted that Brazil should soon be competing for markets with Asian powers that currently dominate naval construction of both ships and platforms. “We must be ready to compete with the naval industry giants that dominate the market, such as South Korea, China and Japan. For such, we need to develop our competences in order to be competitive in terms of productivity, with qualified workforce,” he said.
In addition to the boost received from the offshore oil discoveries in Brazil, the minister underscored the decision to invest in another transport infrastructure scheme, resuming the country’s natural features to use the 8,000 kilometre-plus shoreline and its wealth of rivers. “Brazil has over 40,000 kilometres of waterways. We must invest in water transport. Presently, only 13% of Brazilian transport is done on waterways. Over the next 15 years, we need to increase that to 29%, which will reduce the cost and the environmental impact of transport,” he claimed.
In order to prevent bottlenecks, Pedro Britto stated that there is a need for investment in ports, which need to be updated, and most of all in the waterways themselves. “Investment is being made in dredging at the 20 main Brazilian ports and in new equipment for the smaller ports, and that will enable Brazil to transfer a large share of road transport – which now accounts for 58% of cargo turnover in the country – to waterways and sailing. Thus, the logistics chain will become much more competitive, and the country will be able to export at lower cost,” said the minister.
One example of this type of initiative is Petrobras’ decision to invest in water transport, as informed last week by the president of Transpetro, Sérgio Machado. According to him, the state-owned oil company is accepting bids, up until next Wednesday (30th), from companies interested in a tender to build 20 vessels and 80 barges. The convoys, which will be built by a local shipyard, are going to transport gasoline and alcohol fuel on the Tietê-Paraná Waterway, with potential for replacing 40,000 lorry trips per year. Operations should start in 2012. The building of the ships should generate 3,000 jobs.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
