The ports of Cape Verde handled around 130 thousand tons of fuel in bunkering operations in 2021, marking the recovery of this segment of the port market after a decrease in 2020, motivated by the covid-19 pandemic.

This information was provided, in an interview with Inforpress, by the chairman of Enapor’s board of directors, Alcídio Lopes, who highlighted the oil companies’ commitment to facilities, equipment and boats and the conditions provided by Enapor so that this fuel supply sector grow in line with the commitment to have a “Service provider country”.

“In 2020, like all sectors, there was a decrease in relation to 2019. At the time, according to the numbers we have, we went from 180 thousand tons of supplies for the bunkering to about half, that is, 88 thousand tons. In 2021 we see a recovery and around 130 thousand tons of supplies have already been reached.

According to the official, despite the bunkering being a service provided by the oil companies, Enapor has been improving its infrastructure and reception capacity and also influenced by the way of the services or the tariffs it applies.

“For example, for six years there has been no tariff applied to the supply of the product to ships by oil companies. We fully exempt the charge of any fee on the product that is supplied. And also for ships that dock for the purpose of refueling, there is a significant reduction in port entry tariffs

In the transshipment of fish, according to Alcídio Lopes, around 36 thousand tons were re-exported in 2021.

“This segment of fish is important because it gives work to many people and provides significant port work. Therefore, it is a bet that is in our portfolio in terms of planning and, therefore, we are very interested in creating the conditions to continue to improve our capacity to provide these segments”, highlighted the same source.

Regarding containers, revealed the official, there is also the purpose of ports being transshipment points. This means, he explained, having better infrastructural conditions and having global operators that make this happen.

“Our numbers are still incipient because we have had some transhipment to some other point, but there are occasional situations that, in fact, are still far from the purpose of being a platform country”, said Alcídio Lopes, for whom this requires other infrastructures. , such as the Special Maritime Economic Zone in São Vicente (ZEEMSV), with future projects regarding the relocation and development of future terminals in the Saragaça area.

According to the same source, Enapor aims to be a reference in the Middle Atlantic in terms of service provision, from port services to shipping, but this requires robustness and having other networks.

Hence, he explained, the Government’s bet on ZEEMSV, whose objective is to have a platform “with the capacity to attract services, more bunkering, more transshipment, more passengers, more cargo and to be a point of rerouting and cargo production”.