Sergio Machado elaborates on the growth of the shipping industry

Jornal do Commercio – And the launch of the third stage of Promef has been on speaking terms for some time. Tell us something more about this.

Jose Sergio de Oliveira Machado– The launch of the third stage of Promef is the biggest topic of discussion for us right now.. The countries that dominate 50% of world trade have more than 70% of the fleet because they strategically it to be like this. We need to change the transportation matrix and give greater weight to the waterway. We need to take advantage of the 50,000 kilometers of rivers we have in Brazil. The shipping industry is essential, in addition to one of the greatest riches of Brazil’s pre-salt oil, which brings opportunity for production platforms, support vessels, tankers and rigs. Now for it to have sustainability it needs to be globally competitive.
Jornal do Commercio – You once talked about sovereignty in the Merchant Navy. What is the size of the fleet of Transpetro as of now and is the country spending on chartering of vessels of other flags?

Jose Sergio de Oliveira Machado  – We have today a fleet of 60 tankers and we will move to 110. This is a significant development. To give you an idea, Petrobras currently uses 250 tankers. And we will start making not only coastal but also long-distance, like the João Cândido successfully did. Brazil currently spends $ 17 billion on shipping. That’s because 95% of our international trade is done by sea transport.

Jornal do Commercio – The market is filled with arguments that the nationalization policy could have started with a lower rate and then would have gradually increased. Do you think that was a bold start with 65%?

Jose Sergio de Oliveira Machado  – I think the 65% rate should be maintained. . The precondition for a competitive domestic industry is to have yard, but the condition for that to happen is to have management. We have an advantage that few countries have, which is funding and demand. It is like the national content is to want to fight fever when we have to fight infection. We have to face the problem, have design, planning, quality control. In the first vessel we had nearly 40% duty and now the idea is to be between 3% and 5%. We created the SAP (Production Monitoring System) to improve productivity.