Santos Terminal 37

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Group Libra won a 20-year concession to rehabilitate and operate container terminal 37 (Ponta da Praia) at Santos Port on September 04, 1995. It was the first private operator to take over a terminal at Santos. The total area of the conteiner terminal is 20,141 square meters. For the concession, the company has to pay monthly installments of US$ 395,000 (R$ 359,600) to CODESP, the government agency responsible for the Santos Port. The company announced that it expected to invest US$ 27.2 million (R$ 24.5 million) in the terminals facilities during the concession period. Group Libra took over operations by November 1995 with equipment leased from CODESP and minor investments (US$ 700,000) in new software and hardware. The concessionaires managed to increase productivity from 1,034 containers/month to 7,000 containers/month. The terminal was reopened in November 1997 with new equipment allowing for handling productivity to be increased from 22 containers/hour to 50 containers/hour and increasing actual cargo from 15,000 containers/month to 25,000 containers/month during 1998. Grupo Libra signed the additional 20-year concession for piers 34, 35, 36, Ponta da Praia for expansion of T37 in 1998. In July 1999, Libra was facing the possibility of government sanctions and service disruptions due to a dispute with regulators over past due debts (about US$ 7.2 million). In addition, in January 2003, the concession for terminals 34,35 and 36 was cancelled, due to ilegal clauses in the contract, according to an administrative oversight body (Tribunal de Contas da Uniao). In 2003, the past due debts issue was still pending a final decision. From 1995 to 2003, Grupo Libra has invested US$ 70 million in Terminal 37 - an ammount that surpases the initial estimated investment in US$ 42.8 million. Between 1995 and 2009, a total of US$ 170 million have been invested in the terminal infrastructure. In November 2009, Libra announced its intention to invest US$ 220 million (BRL 440 million) to unify the operation of its three terminals at Santos Port (T33, T35 and T37), which would also require the construction of a new berth. Such project would require the approval of Codesp and ANTAQ, the Santos Port authority and federal government regulatory agency, respectively.