Industry questions Brazilian cruise choices
Brazil will invest millions of dollars to build four new passenger terminals and reform two key existing ones for cruise tourism before the 2014 FIFA World Cup, but the industry is concerned over the choice of ports, and timetable for construction.
Ports in the northeastern cities of Salvador, Recife, Fortaleza and Natal will all have new terminals built, kicking off a rush for cruise traffic to an entire region of the country that has never had a proper structure to receive leisure ships. In Santos, docks will be realigned, and in Rio de Janeiro a Y-shaped pier will be built with six berths reserved exclusively for passenger ships.
Aside for those six sites, the federal government still plans to invest BRL89m ($47m) on a river terminal in Manaus. Construction should start in each of the six cities within the next five months, wrapping up in late 2013 in time for cruise ships to offer 45,000 extra beds during the June-July explosion of tourists in 2014.
The growth potential for maritime tourism in Brazil will be tremendous if the projects come through. The Port of Santos had 1.1m passengers pass through during the 2010/11 tourist season, up 30% from the year prior. By late 2013 if its expansion is seen through, the port could receive 2.5m per season.
Despite the government's optimism it'll have new terminals ready in less than two years, complications have already arisen. In September, an audits court froze bidding for the Rio de Janeiro pier project on hints of irregularities and overpricing in bid guidlines.
Brazil's Maritime Cruise Association, or Abremar, calls today's ports system “chaotic” and “a basis for improvisation” for passenger reception. At Northeastern ports, tourists literally disembark amid containers, says Marcia Leite, Abremar's infrastructure coordinator. The organisation says that aside from Salvador, it wasn't consulted by the government on any of the projects.
Over the past decade, Brazil's cruise tourism sector grew 22% per year, on average. In 2010, growth was 2%, a drop only attributable to limited port space, and the fact that 40 Brazilian ports are registered to receive cruise ships but less than 20 have the infrastructure for it.
After the sports tourism of 2014 and the Rio Olympics in 2016, operators are worried that port fees already limiting the industry's growth in Brazil will be higher, and more of a deterrent.
A recent study by Abremar found that embarkation and disembarkation fees for passengers at Santos were 398% higher than those charged at the Port of Civitavecchia (Italy), 266% higher than in Tunis (Tunisia), and 190% higher than the Port of Barcelona.
