Port Manatee and Docas do Rio de Janeiro to Become Sister Seaports

Port Manatee and Docas do Rio de Janeiro (the Rio de Janeiro Port Authority) will become International Sister Seaports, establishing new opportunities for foreign trade between the U.S. and Brazil and marking the first time a Florida Gulf Coast seaport has entered into such an agreement.

Jorge Luiz de Mello, president-director of the Rio de Janeiro Port Authority, will sign the agreement in Manatee County on June 4 at a Manatee County Port Authority (MCPA) meeting to be held during a regular meeting of the Manatee County Board of County Commissioners.

Carol Whitmore, chairman of the MCPA, and Carlos Buqueras, executive director of Port Manatee, will sign on behalf of Port Manatee.

Buqueras and Mello signed the agreement on May 22 at a preliminary signing ceremony in Brasilia – the capital of Brazil – in witness of the Minister of Brazilian Seaports Leonidas Cristino. That meeting also included the minister’s port management and infrastructure secretary, Fernando Victor Castanheira de Carvalho, and his assessor international, Jose Newton Barbosa Gama.

The International Sister Seaports Agreement will help establish regular shipping lines between Port Manatee and Brazilian seaports including the Rio de Janeiro Port Authority and will allow for the free and uninhibited exchange of information related to the two ports’ cargo industries, statistics, planned infrastructure developments, marketing and research. The agreement will also establish goodwill ambassadors to exchange educational visits between the ports and help implement the intent of the agreement.

Brazil is Florida’s largest trade partner, and Port Manatee is a principal importer in the Southeastern U.S. of Brazilian orange juice and lumber.

“This agreement is like Olympic gold for Florida’s Gulf Coast,” Buqueras said in reference to the 2016 Summer Olympics to be held in Rio de Janeiro. “And it’s a qualifying event for Port Manatee.”

He added, “We will continue to pursue international trade opportunities that positively impact the local economy and increase jobs, and work with others to do the same.”

The signing ceremony will commence at 11 a.m. in the commission chambers on the first floor of the Manatee County government administration building located at 1112 Manatee Avenue West, Bradenton, and will be followed by a brief reception.

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Port Manatee, June 3, 2013