Port of Tubarão
The Port of Tubarão is a port in Brazil, near the city of Vitória in Espírito Santo. The port was created in 1966 by the Brazilian mining company Vale to export iron ore extracted from the Iron Quadrangle in Minas Gerais. In 2007, the Port of Tubarão was the largest iron ore embarking port in the world, shipping around 80 million metric tons of ore a year. Lesser port trade includes grain and soybean meal. Vale is still the owner of the port.
The port is among the fastest iron ore loading terminals in the world, with an average loading rate of 12,000 tonnes per hour and a nominal loading rate of 16,000 tonnes per hour.
History
The construction of the port of Tubarão was started in 1962 by - Vale do Rio Doce., The year of the signing of the first long-term contracts for the supply of iron ore to Japan and Germany, and its construction was paid for entirely with funds from the National Treasury.The port of Tubarão was a pioneering project - designed by Eliezer Batista - which helped create a new global logistics process in the transport of solid and liquid bulk. The participation of Japan in this enterprise was decisive and the construction of the port of Tubarão remains in the memories with sympathy of the Japanese until today:
Funding
In possession of the iron ore supply contracts, Eliezer turned to Ex-Im Bank, the development bank of the United States, for financing for the construction of the port of Tubarão. But he failed: he came back empty-handed. The American bank did not extend any credit to Brazil, neither to Vale, nor to Japanese steel companies.He explained his difficulties to the Minister of Finance at the time, during a hearing that has become historic:
Economic fundamentals
Tubarão became the bridge that linked Vale S.A. to the rest of the world and enabled the company to significantly increase overall Brazilian exports.Designed to accommodate ships of a size that was not yet manufactured, the port of Tubarão was a world pioneer in its category.
Collateral benefits
The inauguration of the port of Tubarão in 1966 and its pioneering technology aroused great enthusiasm among Japanese investors and did much to elevate the international concept of Brazil.Its construction immediately attracted a veritable "flood" of new foreign investments to Brazil, such as Celulose Nipo Brasileira SA- Cenibra, Companhia Siderúrgica de Tubarão, Albrás - Alunorte, Mineração da Serra Geral and Nova Era Silicon and the first major overseas project CSI, which somehow helped absolve the finance minister of the 'time, San Tiago Dantas, of the "sin" of having authorized the printing of money for its creation.