Brazil\u2019s ports have had a tumultuous few years, with throughput stunted by on-off concession deals, strikes, and the ramifications of the anti-corruption Operation Car Wash aimed at cleaning up the nation\u2019s businesses. One port that has avoided much of the ruckus has managed to thrive in this environment, moving almost 50% more containers than the national average.<\/p>\n
In fact, Porto Itapo\u00e1 is doing so well that even as it finishes it first expansion phase \u2013 which doubled its original layout to 1.2m teu capacity \u2014 it is preparing the ground for its next expansion, which will increase its capacity to 2.5m teu.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s also considering automation of equipment at all levels, explains diretor de opera\u00e7\u00f5es, Sergni Pessoa Rosa Junior.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are conducting a study with some equipment providers in order to analyse and prepare the terminal for container handling equipment automation,\u201d he tells Port Strategy<\/em>. In addition, the terminal runs Navis\u2019 N4 automation-ready terminal operating system.<\/p>\n All this is being undertaken with the environment firmly in mind. Porto Itapo\u00e1 believes that it is not enough to meet environmental regulations: \u201cEnvironmental preservation is mandatory, essential,\u201d says Mr Junior.<\/p>\n \u201cOne of the most important items of our value chain and strategic plan is the environment,\u201d he adds. \u201cPorto Itapo\u00e1\u2019s mindset is to preserve our environment in order to guarantee a sustainable and healthy future for our community and planet.\u201d<\/p>\n The port has a number of programmes that target environmental preservation, including recycling, constant monitoring of gases, smart water use, and protection of fauna and forestry. Further, all the lubricants it uses are biodegradable.<\/p>\n \u201cFor our environmental license we have done more than the regulation determines,\u201d points out Mr Junior. \u201cFor instance, to compensate for the loss of forestry Porto Itapo\u00e1 acquired an area 10 times the size of its expansion area. After the acquisition of the land, we attached a permanent preservation area to it so that it is legally protected.<\/p>\n \u201cI believe and I am sure and confident that without sustainability in all aspects \u2014 social, economic and environmental \u2014 the business has no chance of surviving.\u201d<\/p>\n Road rage<\/strong><\/p>\n There have been some blips, however. Last year, Porto Itapo\u00e1 did not manage to escape the truck strikes that brought traffic to a standstill throughout the country. Now, says Mr Junior, the relationship is back on an even keel.<\/p>\n \u201cTruck drivers are one of our most important customers and the terminal puts in all efforts to give them the best service level, and one of the fastest truck cycles in our industry.\u201d<\/p>\n The port also has a dedicated building in the gate area where drivers can rest, grab a coffee and a snack and leave their families \u2014 if they are travelling with them \u2014 while the driver enters the terminal to pick up or drop off the container.<\/p>\n \u201cPorto Itapo\u00e1 and truck drivers have a mutual respect. This is what makes this relationship great,\u201d says Mr Junior. To measure satisfaction, Porto Itapo\u00e1 regularly undertakes a satisfaction survey and maintains open communication channels between its customer service department and truck drivers.<\/p>\n The port also actively participates in community engagement and support programmes. It says that its people are its most important asset and since its start up it has actively invested in and trained local talent, instead of \u2018importing\u2019 a ready labour force.<\/p>\n \u201cDuring the pre-operational phase, our team dedicated themselves to preparing and training the local people. We are very proud to say that we have proficient quay crane operators who had never seen a container before the Porto Itapo\u00e1 installation.\u201d<\/p>\n Another undertaking that Mr Junior is particularly proud of is its “Mulheres Portuarias” project, which translates to English as “Port Women”. Through this the port has supported women in the community to work at the port in any department.<\/p>\n \u201cI am proud to say that the Porto Itapo\u00e1 team have phenomenal women handling and maintaining our quay cranes, rubber tyred gantry cranes and terminal tractors and also planning and executing our operations and processes,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n Beyond that, Itapo\u00e1 has a collection of ongoing community initiatives under the umbrella title of AMPLIAR. Examples of parts of the program are support for the local handcrafters to help them scale up their business, support for local fishermen, educational programmes for children and health campaigns.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Porto Itapo\u00e1 invests beyond increased throughput and potential automation for its future success, writes Carly Fields<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":631,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[58],"tags":[],"sponsor":[],"class_list":["post-630","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-container-cargo-handling"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.portstrategy.com\/greenport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/630","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.portstrategy.com\/greenport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.portstrategy.com\/greenport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.portstrategy.com\/greenport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.portstrategy.com\/greenport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=630"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.portstrategy.com\/greenport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/630\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":632,"href":"https:\/\/www.portstrategy.com\/greenport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/630\/revisions\/632"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.portstrategy.com\/greenport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/631"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.portstrategy.com\/greenport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=630"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.portstrategy.com\/greenport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=630"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.portstrategy.com\/greenport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=630"},{"taxonomy":"sponsor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.portstrategy.com\/greenport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sponsor?post=630"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}