Crowley, Triunfo To Establish Joint Venture

Crowley Marine Services and Triunfo Operadora Portuaria Ltd., intend to form a joint venture to operate a deepwater logistics base in the State of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. GAIA Comercial Exterior will participate as Crowley's Brazilian representative for energy logistics services. The partners announced the joint venture during a signing ceremony at Rio's prestigious Naval Club. The deepwater logistics base will be located at Triunfo's marine terminal on Guanabara Bay and will manage the complex logistics and transportation required to support deepwater exploration and production in the Campos and Santos basins of Brazil. The base will feature over 300 m of dedicated dock space with 7.5 m draft, as well as significant open and covered warehousing, cranes, and material handling equipment. The energy base will be bonded for temporary storage of imported materials, and is expected to be operational by September 2001. The Crowley-Triunfo joint venture will provide storage and inventory control of oilfield equipment and coordination of marine transportation between the base and offshore drilling and production areas in the Campos and Santos Basins, as well as coordination of inland transportation to the base. The base will be staffed primarily by dedicated Brazilian employees. All activities performed will be in accordance with American Petroleum Institute (API) standards and utilizing Crowley's ISO-9002 compliant procedures. The joint venture also intends to provide material management services for third party service companies providing materials and services to offshore operators. Speaking via teleconference, Tom Crowley Jr., Chairman, President and CEO of Crowley Maritime Corporation, said, "We are extremely pleased to be working with professional organizations such as Triunfo and GAIA to support Energy operations in deepwater Brazil. Crowley has been active in Brazil for nearly 20 years, and we are committed to providing operators with world-class logistics services." Wagner Granja Victer, State Secretary of Shipbuilding and Petroleum for the State of Rio de Janeiro, said the synergies that will be created between the two companies will enable the Rio Ports to become leaders in the offshore logistics arena. "I am particularly pleased that Crowley selected Rio Ports for its entry into the Brazilian energy logistics market," Victer said. Luiz Bodanese, President of GAIA Comercio Exterior, spoke of the importance of bringing together the three companies - Crowley with the energy logistics knowledge, Triunfo with the experience in port operations and GAIA Comercio Exterior with local marketing knowledge. "We are confident that bringing these three experienced and complementary businesses together will help make this venture a success in the Brazilian offshore energy market," Bodanese said. Rogerio Caffaro, Director-President of Triunfo Operadora Portuaia, acknowledged that Victer had been instrumental in pushing forward the idea of using the Triunfo facility to service the offshore oil energy business. "Because we have limit