The Port of Antwerp will establish two training centres for maritime professionals in Brazil. The initiative is part of a Memorandum of Understanding signed by Marc Van Peel with among others Maurício Quintella, the Brazilian minister of Transport, Ports and Civil Aviation.
The ports are crucial for Brazil’s foreign trade, as 98.6% of its foreign exports passed through them in 2015. However the logistical infrastructure needs to be improved, in order to boost the economy and to keep the country competitive internationally.
Antwerp and Brazil will reform two existing training institutes on the APEC model, one in São Paulo in the South and one in Alagoas in the North. This means that Antwerp will be responsible for among other things designing tailor-made courses and supplying lecturers.
With an annual freight volume of 7.1 million tonnes Brazil is Antwerp’s seventh-largest trading partner. In summer 2017 the Port Authority’s other subsidiary, Port of Antwerp International, invested 10 million dollars in Porto do Açu, the first private operational port complex in the North of Rio de Janeiro State, Brazil’s industrial heartland.
