How Latin America's largest port will future-proof itself

Brazil's Santos port will invest 7bn reais (US$1.4bn) next year to make its surrounding area more attractive for business and tourism.

As part of this endeavor, port administrator SPA will build a tunnel connecting the cities of Santos and Guarujá, and carry out roadworks and dredging.

State-owned SPA also has plans to enter the green hydrogen business.

While details have not emerged yet, all projects will involve opportunities for private players, as SPA president Anderson Pomini tells BNamericas.

BNamericas: How important is the Santos-Guarujá tunnel?

Pomini: This project is important not only for Santos and Guarujá but also for Brazil because we are talking about a project that involves the largest logistics [hub] in the country, which is Santos port, which is responsible for moving 30% of Brazil’s trade balance.

This project will facilitate the navigability of the 30 ships that use our canal daily, meaning they won’t have to wait often or divert the 80,000 people who cross the stretch every day via ferries.

It's time to get a project that has been discussed for over 97 years off the ground and start implementing this work as soon as possible.

BNamericas: What is the impact?

Pomini: In addition to generating investment, this project impacts tourism in the region and has a social impact because we will relocate people who currently live in areas where there should be port terminals and get them to suitable housing areas.

Furthermore, once the tunnel is ready, the path taken by trucks will be shorter and the volume of emissions will be reduced.

BNamericas: Will it be built as a PPP? If so, will it be led by the state or the federal government?

Pomini: We are designing a partnership that involves the state, port authority SPA and the port ministry to decide the model.

At the moment, everything is heading toward a PPP. But no matter whether it is a PPP or a public investment-only model, we have an established project schedule.

BNamericas: What is that schedule?

Pomini: We want to publish the construction notice in the second half of next year and we will start construction at the end of next year.

Work should take around three years and we’ll use immersion technology to build the tunnel.

BNamericas: What is the planned investment and how will it be financed?

Pomini: Investments are 5-6bn reais. At the Santos Port Authority, we have 3bn reais in cash saved for this project. The rest must come from the federal government and São Paulo state.

The payback for this project is three years, but there are details that I still don’t know, such as the toll trucks will pay. This aspect is still being estimated.

BNamericas: What does the licensing process involve?

Pomini: This current project is based on an old one that had an environmental license granted by Cetesb. 

We decided to update the existing project instead of creating a new one, so we would only renew the license and not request a new one. I believe that we’ll have our license renewed by the end of the first half [of 2024].

BNamericas: What is SPA's investment plan for next year?

Pomini: Our budget foresees investments of 7bn reais in 2024.

Our primary works are to complete the perimeter on the left side of the port, with 3km of viaducts that will resolve a historic bottleneck on the Guarujá side.

We also want to resolve the bottleneck in the Alemoa [industrial] area and we want to deepen the channel [from] 15m … to 16m and then to 17m.

In addition to these infrastructure works, we are investing in housekeeping to help integrate the port area into the lives of citizens.

BNamericas: Like other ports, do you also have green hydrogen plans?

Pomini: Yes. We are the only port that has its own hydroelectric plant, which has installed potential of 15MW/h.

The main cost of generating green hydrogen comes from electrical energy and we have energy in excess.

Our technicians are evaluating and we want to create a PPP so that we can have private management of our hydroelectric plant and the counterpart required from the private sector player will be the production of green hydrogen to supply the cruise ships that use Santos port.