Navegantes Port

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In 2005, Portonave was created to build and operate Navegantes port, a new container terminal port in Itajai located in Acu river. The port was to be located 92 kilometers North of Florianopolis, capital of Santa Catarina state. The port was designed to have 750m in quays, three berths with capacity to receive ships of up to 290m in length and 250,000 sq meters of container storage area. The Portonave consortium, the project company, was owned by private companies Backmoon Investments Inc. (50%), Construtora Triunfo (20%), Ivai Engenharia de Obras (20%), and Maresgaudium (10%). The project total cost was estimated at US$186 million (423 million reais). The cost of first phase, which included three vessel berths, was estimated in US$158 million (359 million reais) should be completed by August 2007. A second stage could be launched in 2011, depending on port demand and traffic flow. The port was designed and implemented by project investors to meet Santa Catarian’s growing demand for port capacity to handle refrigerated cargo, including chicken, pork, and other products. Navegantes Port was one of the two merchant ports in Santa Catarina state developed in 2005. The other one was US$100 million Tecon Santa Catarina. In July 2006, the financial services arm of General Electric (GE) signed a project finance contract for a loan worth US $110 million with Portonave S/A. The purpose of the loan was to enable Portonave S/A to complete works on the port and begin operations in October 2007. Construction works were concluded in August 2007. As of the end of 2009, the company was considering the expansion of the port, which would require na additional investment of about US$ 35 million (BRL 70 million). At this time, the company shareholders were: Construtora Triunfo (50%) and Backmoon Investments (50%). Also, during 2009, Portonave invested US$ 25 million (BRL 50 million) in the reconstruction of one of its terminal that was destroyed by fire in the end of 2008. The expansion of the port facilities commenced in 2013. The investment was estimated at US$ 63.8 million (BRL 150 million). In June 2014, the sponsors were granted a US$ 217 million (BRL 510 million) 7-year credit facility arranged by Banco Santander and BTG Pactual.