Petrobras’ logistics arm, the company talks with CGU to allow the participation of large national shipyards in its bids
A Transpetro created a working group to prepare, in 60 days, the project to resume shipbuilding in Brazil, said the company’s president, Sérgio Bacci, this Thursday (May 4, 2023). The company is the logistics arm of Petrobrasresponsible for operating vessels and pipelines to serve the state-owned company.
Bacci pleads for the plan’s inclusion in the new development program announced by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) in April. Created along the lines of the former PAC (Growth Acceleration Program), the program will list the government’s priority works.
“We need to build ships in Brazil, but it won’t be at any price and at any time”, said Bacci. According to the executive, the construction will be financed by the Merchant Marine Fund – managed by the Ministry of Transport and whose use of resources was made more flexible by the law of BR do Mar.
Last week, Bacci was in Brasília to meet with representatives of the CGU (Comptroller General of the Union) and TCU (Court Union accounts). He intends to unlock the participation of large national shipyards in tenders for the construction of Transpetro ships.
“The shipyard is part of an economic group, sometimes the problem is not even in the shipyard, but in the group. There are groups that have entered into a leniency agreement, that is, it is paid. If he made the deal, there’s no reason not to be hired. It was one of the topics I took to the CGU and the CGU agrees”, said Bacci, referring to the shipyards involved in cases of corruption investigated by the Lava-Jato Operation.
The executive stated that shipyards that did not enter into a leniency agreement may dialogue with the CGU to participate in public tenders. “They [a CGU] also understand that time has passed and that we need to overcome this phase”, he declared.
Today, Transpetro owns 26 ships and 10 are chartered from other companies. The 26 were built via Promef (Fleet Modernization and Expansion Program), which was part of the PAC.
According to Bacci, the new Transpetro project will be different from Promef. “We learned a lot from history, when I go to TCU and CGU, I’m giving a concrete message: I don’t want you to have a problem“, he said. The executive stated that he wants a ship building program in Brazil “extremely sustainable from an economic point of view, of necessity, but [sobretudo] of controls”.
Bacci stated that the government will discuss the local content policy, which establishes the obligation to contract some products and services in Brazil. In his assessment, the new content percentages should be progressive and vary depending on the type of vessel built.
“We have to think separately. Evidently, today, if I were to build a rig in Brazil and tell you ‘I want 65% local content’, very possibly I won’t be able to, because the industry has dwindled“, he said.
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