Port Saint John Eyes Growing Business In Brazil
SAINT JOHN– Saint John’s port is hoping to drum up more business with Brazil during a trip to the country this week.
Two members of Port Saint John’s business development team are travelling to Sᾶo Paulo, Brazil for the 25th Annual Intermodal South America Conference taking place March 19 to March 21.
Port Saint John’s senior vice president of trade and business development Andrew Dixon will be travelling down with cargo development manager Shannon Blanchard.
“Brazil is a focus for us and it’s also one of the very big emerging economies, sometimes struggling but emerging nonetheless. The primary purpose is to attend the trade show and we’re exhibiting this time,” said Dixon in an interview with Huddle. “This will be my eighth time in Brazil in the last decade, but this is the first time that we’ve been an exhibitor at this show.”
Dixon said the Intermodal South America Conference isn’t your typical trade show where you set up a small booth. Companies go big. Some exhibits are up to two stories high and have their own meeting rooms.
“We’ll have meetings with shippers and receivers before and after the show,” he said. “Certainly, during the show, there will be a lot of exchange of information.”
Dixon will also speak on a transportation panel about Port Saint John during the event that will also feature a Canadian trade commissioner stationed in Brazil, as well as representatives from container terminal operator DP World Saint John and CMA CGM, one of the weekly container services at the Port. Blanchard will take part in a concurrent trade development workshop.
Port Saint John already has some business with Brazil. For many years, the port has been shipping potash to the country. It also occasionally ships bulk forest products there. Also in the last year, the Port started to attract import goods from Brazil.
Dixon said Port Saint John would like direct container shipping service between Brazil and Canada. There is direct shipping on bulk for things like potash, but not for containers.
“We would like to see it grow to the point where we have direct port-to-port service between Brazil and Canada for containerized cargo,” he said
“There’s a lot of products that are coming into central Canada from U.S. ports. We think it makes a lot of sense that if you’re shipping into Canada to use a Canadian port. It’s very easy, uncongested personal service so we’re looking to convert as much as cargo as we can.”
Port Saint John is so serious about growing business in Brazil that it recently hired someone in the country to help develop business.
“We actually have a contract with a Brazilian citizen that we’ve known for some time. I met him the first time I went down. He knows a lot about international shipping and he’s our representative there and has been for several months,” said Dixon. “We’ll be evaluating that contract and that presence to see if that’s something we want to turn into something of a more permanent nature.”
Dixon said the Port’s work on growing business between New Brunswick and Brazil will continue beyond the conference.
“It’s not just promotion and it’s not missionary work where you’re trying to create something out of nothing,” he says. “We have momentum now and we’re very serious about connecting actual shippers and receivers of goods.”
Last year Port Saint John hosted several representatives from Brazilian companies who came to Saint John to meet New Brunswick companies, Dixon said. This spring, they will be bringing New Brunswick companies down to Brazil.
“In May of this year, our next stage for follow-up will be to take some of those New Brunswick companies and representatives and take them back down on a trade mission into Brazil,” he said. “It will be very much one-on-one, face-to-face meetings with an emphasis on exporting New Brunswick products and getting them out into the international place.”