Santos Brasil hurting

04 Nov 2009

Source:CI Online

Brazilian container terminal operator, Santos Brasil, has seen its net Q3 income slashed by 13.2% compared to the third quarter of last year, down to BRL166.1 (USD94.8) million, mainly it said due to the 'adverse impact of the global crisis on Brazil's foreign trade'.

South America's biggest box terminal operator - which has terminals in Santos, Imbituba and Vila da Conde, plus logistics and warehousing outfit Mesquita - posted net revenue of BRL482.5 million for the first nine months of this year, and that was 7.6% down over the same period of 2008.

The company said in a statement to the Sao Paulo Stock Exchange: 'The decline in handled volume due to the reduction in Brazil's foreign trade resulted in reduced economies of scale, thus compromising EBITDA performance.

'Nevertheless, there was a 10% increase in container volume between the Q2 09 and Q309, mainly thanks to the recovery of imports. This was positively reflected in the full-to-empty container ratio which totalled 79.2% in Tecon Santos, very close to the 80% registered in Q308.'

Richard Klien, the chairman of Santos Brasil, told CI eXpress: 'I don't expect things to get back to 2008 levels until 2012. The fact that the Brazilian currency, the Real, is so strong is not helping Brazilian goods to sell in traditional overseas markets, which are now weak anyway since the Lehman Bros crash and what followed.'