More transportation bottlenecks are forecast in Brazil as existing ports, roads and other infrastructure cannot cope with soaring trade, Mauro Oliveira Dias, CEO of container-shipping company Log-in Log­stica Intermodal (Log-in), tells GTR.

 

“We have reached a critical moment. Everyone must continue investing, otherwise it will be impossible to catch up with export growth,” Dias says. “Brazil demand is higher than our capacity to meet it.”

 

The availability of projects, rather than funding, is the main issue in South America’s largest economy, he remarks. Log-in revenue is evenly split between local and international commerce.

 

“More resources than projects are available here,” he says. “It’s not a problem to obtain resources in Brazil,”

 

Log-in raised R850mn (US$445mn) in an IPO on the Sao Paulo stock exchange in June 2007 and recently announced plans to expand infrastructure and buy more ships to boost its transporting capacity. The Brazil-based company specialises in port handling, storage, container shipping by sea and rail and logistics planning.

 

The company’s sea shipping spans the Brazilian, Uruguayan and Argentine coasts down to Buenos Aires.

 

Moreover, Log-in is borrowing R625.2mn (US$325mn) due in 20 years from Brazil’s marine merchant fund to build five vessels. The credit equals 90% of the project, according to a statement issued by the firm.

 

Log-in is a former unit of iron ore giant CVRD, which remains a shareholder in the company.