São Paulo – Angra dos Reis, in the state of Rio de Janeiro, was Brazil’s leading exporting city in the first half this year. Revenues from foreign sales totalled US$ 4.4 billion, representing growth of almost 180% over the same period of last year, and the municipality surpassed the exports of São Paulo, the country’s largest and richest city, which totalled US$ 2.9 billion during the period.
The main contributing factor to the growth was increased oil throughput at the Ilha Grande Bay Sea Terminal (Tebig, in the Portuguese acronym). According to the secretary of Economic Activities of Angra dos Reis, Alexandre Tabet, the city hall has authorized Transpetro, Petrobras’ transport subsidiary, to carry out ship to ship operations, i.e. the transfer of cargo from one ship to another, which has doubled the terminal’s capacity.
The coast of the Rio de Janeiro state is the main oil producing region in Brazil, and the commodity accounted for nearly all of the municipality’s exports in the first half.
According to information supplied by Transpetro, since March, when the new operation began, oil exports increased by 30% on average at the Tebig, which now has a pier with capacity to operate two vessels at once.
“The new operation has brought nothing but benefits to Angra,” said Tabet. In the first half last year, Angra dos Reis ranked eighth in the list of exporting municipalities.
According to Tabet, the municipality should end the year with 100 million Brazilian reals (US$ 56 million) in oil royalties. “We have already exceeded our budget forecast by 14 million reals (US$ 8 million),” said the secretary.
The city hall is investing the funds in logistics, slope retention and housing construction. Late last year, the city was seriously affected by heavy rains, which destroyed and flooded hundreds of houses.
Even though oil is gaining strength in the municipality, Angra dos Reis’ main economic activity is tourism. Small enterprises in the region also boost the city’s economy. “We have lots of lodges, restaurants, shoe and clothing stores,” said the secretary.
The beaches are Angra’s main attraction. There are 365 islands, crystal-clear waters, clear sand, and many options of boat rides, tracks and waterfalls.
Port expansion
Early this month, the mayor of Angra dos Reis, Tuca Jordão, announced the expansion plan for the Port of Angra, which should receive 60 million reals (US$ 33 million) investment in its first phase, which should last until 2012.
The company in charge of the Port Terminal is Technip, which should turn the port into a tool for aiding oil drilling and production at the pre-salt layer of the Brazilian coast, where large reserves of the commodity are being discovered. The project, which provides for work to be done up until 2015, should employ 2,000 people.
The main works, according to the city hall, are the adding of 217 metres to the wharf, which should increase the flow of vessels, modernizing of the port’s infrastructure, and implementation of a research centre for workforce training.
According to Tabet, Angra dos Reis will now tend to remain on top of the list of leading exporting municipalities. “It seems that other municipalities are remaining stable,” he said.
The second leading exporting municipalities were Santos, in the state of São Paulo, and Parauapebas, in Pará, both of which sold the equivalent of US$ 2.3 billion, followed by São José dos Campos (São Paulo), with US$ 2.2 billion.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
