Northeast Brazil News

Brazilian oil workers union FUP said on Wednesday that intelligence staff at state-run Petrobras are aware of a potential plan to invade its Transpetro terminal located in the Maceio port in northeast Brazil.The threat comes as Brazil braces for more protests by supporters of far-right former President Jair Bolsonaro, after mobs rampaged through public buildings in the country's capital on Sunday.The union said "people identified with coup practices" were behind the plan, which also involves invading a distribution center owned by Vibra Energia in the same port, aiming to disrupt fuel supplies

Allard Castelein, the CEO of the Port of Rotterdam Authority, and Camilo Santana, Governor of the Brazilian state of Ceará, signed an investment agreement regarding the Port of Rotterdam Authority’s participation in the development of the port of Pecém.The agreement sets out how the Port of Rotterdam Authority will be investing some EUR 75 million in Pecém’s port-industrial complex, constituting a 30% share in this enterprise.In addition, the Port of Rotterdam Authority will gain a joint say in strategic and investment decisions as well as representation in the Brazilian port’s Executive Board, Supervisory Board and management.The partners…

As shareholders in the Port of Rotterdam Authority, the Municipality of Rotterdam and the Ministry of Finance have approved the participation in the Port of Pecém, a rapidly growing port in Northeast Brazil.The participation involves an investment of some 75 million euros and, in addition to holding 30% of the shares, the Port of Rotterdam Authority will have joint control of strategic decisions and positions at Executive Board, Supervisory Board and management level.The Port of Rotterdam Authority and Ceará State are expected to sign the decision next month, and the following months will be used to further finalise the participation.Allard Castelein…

APM Terminals Pecém reported a 19% annual increase in container handling volumes as the gateway port to northeast Brazil. APM Terminals Pecém, which is the container operator at the Port of Pecém which is managed by the state-owned company CIPP (former Cearaportos), handled 130,008 moves (213,951 TEUs – twenty-foot equivalent units) in 2017 a new volume record. Daniel Rose, Managing Director of APM Terminals Pecém said “We have been working closely with our shipping line customers and our landside customers to ensure they had the port service levels needed to grow their business. Pecém has the best port and hinterland infrastructure connectivity in the region.

Two soybean cargoes have recently departed from a new terminal in northeast Brazil operated by VLI and local trader Multigrain, the latest option in the region as exporters look for alternatives to Brazil's overcrowded southern ports. A third ship carrying 27,800 tonnes of soy contracted by Multigrain is anchored in the Barra dos Coqueiros terminal in Sergipe state, according to shipping agencies and Thomson Reuters data. The first known soy terminal in Sergipe will export just 150,000 tonnes of soy per year, but it is part of a broader trend to increase capacity and cut costs for exporters in Brazil by developing new shipping routes closer to the Panama Canal. International giants like Glencore, Louis Dreyfus, Bunge Ltd.

Petroleo Brasileiro SA began operating the furnaces in the atmospheric distillation unit at its Abreu e Lima or "RNEST" refinery near Recife, said the state-run oil company in a statement on Thursday. Those approvals mean the refinery can soon start producing both gasoline and diesel fuel, the ANP said on Thursday. The refinery was originally expected to start operations four years ago. The Brazilian state of Pernambuco has limited processing capacity at the first train to processing 45,000 barrels a day of crude, or 39 percent of the train's capacity, until sulfur and nitrogen control systems are fully operational. A second 115,000 barrel a day train is expected to start operation sometime in the second half of 2015.

If and when Brazil gets its maritime act together, oh what a shipbuilding market force it could be. The modern Brazilian shipbuilding industry was established in the 1960s, induced by a broad and effective governmental policy. The 1960s and 1970s saw the rise of the merchant marine and shipbuilding industry in Brazil. The creation of the “Merchant Marine Fund” and the “Tax for the Merchant Marine Renewal,” in 1958, together with other specific targets set by the government at that time, made investments available to the shipbuilding industry and for the development of the merchant marine in general. Counting on such incentives, new shipyards such as Ishibras and Verolme were built…

In the last 12 months, GE has won contracts valued at more than $600 million to provide propulsion systems with customers in the pre-salt oilfield expansion off Brazil’s east coast. GE’s systems will power, propel, navigate, position and control drillships and also power and control the drilling process itself. Today, GE is in the process of building systems for 22 of the 29 drillships for the current phase of the Brazilian oil and gas exploration by Brazilian energy corporation Petrobras. “Our advanced power generation, propulsion technology, drilling drives, dynamic positioning (DP) and automation and control systems are being harnessed to improve today’s marine and offshore processes with cleaner…