Port Manatee/Rio de Janeiro Sign Sister Seaport Agreement

Port Manatee and Rio de Janeiro are now sister ports. Jorge Luiz de Mello, president-director of the Brazilian port authority, Companhia Docas do Rio de Janeiro, signed the agreement in Manatee County during the June 4 meeting of the Manatee County Port Authority (MCPA), along with MCPA Chairman Carol Whitmore and Executive Director Carlos Buqueras. 

The Florida ceremony followed a preliminary signing of the agreement by Messrs. Buqueras and Mello in Brasilia on May 22 in the presence of the Brazilian Seaports Minister Leonidas Cristino. That meeting also included the minister’s port management and infrastructure secretary, Fernando Victor Castanheira de Carvalho, and his international advisor, Jose Newton Barbosa Gama. 

The agreement commits both ports "to the free and uninhibited exchange of information pertaining to: the cargo and cruise industries in each port; historical statistical information pertaining to each; planned seaport infrastructure developments, and; general marketing research, aimed at increasing cruise and cargo traffic at both ports."

Further, the ports agree to "work toward the formation of technical working groups to exchange educational visits and act as goodwill ambassadors" and to "promote the relationship and advantages of doing business at the Sister Seaports."

Port Manatee is already an importer of Brazilian orange juice and lumber. It hopes the agreement will help establish regular shipping links with Brazilian seaports. 

"This agreement is like Olympic gold for Florida’s Gulf Coast," said Mr. Buqueras, alluding to Rio’s hosting of the 2016 Summer Olympics. "And it’s a qualifying event for Port Manatee."

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