Big times for Brazil’s naval and offshore sector attracts Koreans to the Navalshore. A record number of visitors

(Printed in the Portos e Navios magazine – edition 571 – August 2008)

The fifth edition of Navalshore – Trade Fair and Conference for the Shipbuilding and Offshore Industry continued the trend of previous years and beat new records. About 12,300 visitors attended, compared to the 11,600 in 2007, a growth of 6%. This year 130 exhibitors took part against 115 in 2007, 13% more. 228 brand marks were exhibited in 2008 and, for the first time, Korean companies took part: Hyundai, TankTech, Panasia, Deyang and Haean Machinery Industry. The biggest upsurge occurred in the parallel event - “15-minute Business Sessions”. In 2007, the six anchor businesses interviewed 380 companies offering their supply potential. In 2008, with 11 anchor companies, 809 meetings were held, 113% more than the previous year. Navalshore 2008 was held at the Centro de Convenções SulAmérica, in Rio de Janeiro, between the 25th and 27th  of June, and was sponsored by Transpetro and Schottel do Brasil Propulsões Marítimas. The Conference was sponsored by Vicel Serviços Técnicos and Det Norske Veritas (DNV) and Firjan (Rio de Janeiro Federation of Industries). According to the senior manager of MTU – Germany Dennis Zumbach, who made his first visit to a Navalshore, the Trade Fair exceeded all his expectations. “The Fair is not excessively large but has attracted a host of distinctive potential customers and exhibitors from all segments of the shipbuilding and offshore industry, dealing with items ranging from motors, accessories for  shipyards and end users. This has really impressed me. He also remarked favourably on the presence of many international companies. I regard this trade fair as a very important event for Latin America. This is my first time and I shall certainly be here next year.” At the opening ceremony, Ariovaldo Rocha, the president of Sinaval (National Shipbuilding and Offshore Trade Association) made the point that the sector’s key word is “consolidation”. “We are already studying a Shipbuilding Mercosul, because the on-board components industry (navipeças) will, without doubt, extend beyond Brazil’s boundaries”, he affirmed in his talk.

According to Carlos Eduardo Macedo, Coordinator-general for the Ministry for Development, industry and Foreign Trade (MDIC), who also took part in the Fair’s Opening ceremony, the Ministry is now paying twice as much attention to Naval Sector affairs as heretofore; as can be seen by his gesture in opening up a Naval Industry Development Bureau. “We are paying very special attention to the on-board components industry (navipeças) because it is our understanding that this section, more than shipbuilding, will generate an increased amount of employment opportunities and more revenue for Brazil”. Débora Teixeira, the FMM (Merchant Marine Fund) at the Ministry of Transport , announced interest by the Federal Savings Bank in becoming an agent for the fund. Only officially-registered banks can generate FMM resources. Currently, only the BNDES (development bank), Banco do Brasil, Banco do Nordeste and the Banco da Amazônia are recognized as this type of financial agency. Débora advance the information that the FMM budget for 2008 amounts to R$ 2,1 billion. “But with the sector’s current effervescence, the budget should grow by 50% for 2009”, she calculates. The Fund now has 269 projects in its finance order book: 42 jobs have already been contracted and now only await documentation; 157 projects are at the analysis stage; 36 are at the building stage; and 34 have been delivered.

The 50th anniversaey of Portos e Navios magazine was celebrated in March, with felicitations from the president of Sinaval, who highlighted its unrelenting devotion to duty. He made a point of saying that “Even during the lean periods — and there were plenty of them — Portos e Navios typified the sector’s resistance to adversity; giving encouragement to our activities” . In turn, Débora Teixeira, at an event celebrating the FMMs 50th year, highlighted the Mauá award for Merit medal, conferred on the magazine last April by the Transport Minister , as worthy recognition of the work developed by Portos e Návios  Other dignitaries that took part in the opening ceremony include: Capitão Luiz Alberto Campos – Director in charge of the Safety to Shipping division of the Port Authority; Francis Fixel – superintendent at SEDEIS (State Secretary for Development, Economics, Energy , Industry and Services) ; Elizio de Araújo  executive manager for Transpetro  Transporte Marítimo Transpetro, Ronaldo Lima, president of the Brazilian Association of Marine Support Companies (Abeam); and Luiz Caetano, president of the Eastern Region Representation of FIRJAN - Federation of Industries for the State of Rio de Janeiro –  .

15-minute Business Sessions

The “15-minute Business Sessions” event runs concurrently with Navalshores core Trade Fair activities and last year it was honored by achor companies such as Transpetro, the Brazilian Navy dockyard, Eisa, Mauá, Aker Promar, Inace, Mac Laren, Rio Maguari, Santa Cruz  and TWB, with financial area input from Banco Fator. The Business Sessions have featured for three years now and companies vie for selection as participants. Marcelo Cury, a partner in the Risp company, participated for the second time last year. Cury, who represents the Conesteel and Silgon valve companies and Cifal (nuts, bolts and fixing devices) says that the interviews brought good results. “We were invited for discussions at the Mac Laren shipyard and our first contact was made at a ‘15-minute Business Session ’”. Jormar Usinagem and Nadus (representative of Agena) managed to speak a few minute with all anchor businesses on the very first time at the Sessions.  “I liked the event very much. The interviews were made at exactly the right time for both suppliers and buyers”, said Daniel de Andrade, Commercial Director for Nadus. Nardine Marzullo, Commercial director for the Jormar Usinagem machining company, is on the look-out for future contacts

The Public

As well as its attraction for professionals engaged in the naval and offshore sectors, Navalshore also rouses the interest of young people who have their eyes on job oportunities. Bruna Alves, Aline Dourado and Thaís Marco are examples. They are students of Naval Structures at Etam – the Navy Dockyard Technical School. Young visitors to the Fair are on the lookout for job placement opportunities in the shipyards. “In the public notice for the selection exam we all sat for at the Navy Dockyard, it stated that the first five with the best marks would be taken on as regular staff; but there is a big  demand for technical staff so more were admitted”, Bruna told us. “All the same, we are looking for opportunities in Brazilian shipyards.” At their second visit in two consecutive years, Thiago Henrique, from Eisa, widened his horizons: “I work on the building berth, and what occured to me at one of the design stands is that we who have jobs in that area see things from a different angle than those who are engaged full time on design. We are used to erecting the structures themselves and we are already familiar with what they are designing”, a twenty-year old remarked. Visits from groups secondary-school students were programmed for the third (last) day of the event.

Shipyards

Six shipyards took part in the Fair as exhibitors: Aker Promar, TWB, Eisa, Inace, Detroit and Di Gerardi Siplas. According to Carlos Palmer, an engineer working at Eisa in the job coordination department, his shipyard is in great demand. “If the Brazilian shipyards have full order books, just imagine the amount of work that our Asiatic counterparts have: they must be hiper-busy”, he predicts. “And, at time like this they will be looking for alternative markets: which means us.” Palmer was surprised at receiving visitors at the Eisa stand from new shipyards at this edition of the Trade Fair. “Eastern shipowners came to us and I also spoke to a Brazilian shipowner who is interested in building a type of ship referred to as semi- supply boat, semi- tug , to provide services for oil platforms”, he added.

José Vieira, an engineer in the Aker Promar commercial department, agreed that at this year’s Feira one could perceive that foreigners were definitely wanting to know about the Brazilian naval market. “All of them are watching out to see whats happening in Brazil’s naval sector and what sort of capacity it has”, he remarked. “Prospects are very good indeed, but I think it’s still a bit early to say what’s going to happen”.

TWB, whch has just finished building a ferryboat to operate between Salvador and the island of Itaparica (BA), announced at the Fair that it plans to put another unit in operation. “Nowadays, the ferryboat system in Bahia consumes approximately five thousand tons of fuel each year. With the two boats scheduled to become operable, the amount of fuel needed will drop to less than one thousand tons”, Santos tells us. The ferryboat is an Australian design that has been atrracting the attention of other ferryboat operators throughout the world. “They are booking orders in this country for high tech vessels of this type”.

The Di Gerardi – Siplás shipyard’s exhibition at Navalshore was taken up by a workboat made of HDPE (High density PolyEthylene) built using the thermofusion process. “Our stand is packed with people learning the advantages of a HDPE boat”, Abilio Di Gerardi, the company’s Administrative Director told us. “A lot of them are surprised with what they see and punch the boat to see if it is inflatable”. This technology uses the ‘material of the future. “Our boat is 100% ecological. When it runs out of work we can cut it up and make into plastic once again, to make any other High density Poly Ethylene product.” Di Gerardi also enumerated the boat’s other qualities: it is unsinkable, very stable and can have a working life of more than 60 years.

Bahia

The Secretariat for Industry, Commerce and Mining for Bahia made its debut involvement with Trade Fair. According to the Head of the Secretary’s Cabinet, Antônio Carlos Machado Matias, the State Government aims to negotiate with six to eight shipyards for establishment of a Shipbuilding Complex in the region. “We have everything that’s needed to go ahead with the project right away”, he affirmed. Two memoranda of Intent have already been signed: with the Odebrecht/Queiroz Galvão consortium and with OAS/Setal/Piamont consortium. The first is to operate an existing structure and the second for installation of a shipyard on the River Paranaguassu, where work is to be started in January 2009 and conclusion scheduled within 24 months. According to Matias, two other interested parties are at the discussion point. One of them is the TWB shipyard.

Innovations

One of the new features presented at Navalshore is in the hands of the Calorisol group which has launched a new line of extra-light panels and doors for use in the internal fittings of ships and platforms. Our partition panels and bulkheads weigh in at one third less the conventional ones and our doors are 50% lighter than others on the market. The new products on display symbolize the inauguration of the  new Naval and Offshore division of our company. Our product line, using technology based on calcium silicate, has a certificate for incombustibility and this qualification will soon be extended to all of our naval furniture and fittings segment. “Our product can give you give you a 10 ton weight economy for every 100 square meters of floor space” declared Eduardo dos Santos, executive of the new division Schottel, a company producing propulsion systems and pumps, also brought innovation. Rodrigo Miranda, sales and projects manager, announced opening up of the new Schottel office in Rio de Janeiro. The office will be used for managing projects for new units. The object is to serve all of South America, but it could operate as far afield as part of Latin America. The sales and projects manager estimates that his office will improve the representative function for the company in addition to bringing Schottel nearer to its clients. Electronic Power Design Inc. (EPD), specialized in integrated electronics systems, is an American company , which is contemplating increasing its operational base here in Brazil. The company’s high investments in South America are specially focused on the Brazilian market, mainly as a function of the developing petroleum sector. In this new phase, the company is studying the possibilities of opening an office here in Brazil and transferring the Latin American project management function from the USA to here.

Software

Aveva ‘s 3D integrated engineering design projects is also to become more integrated in the the Brazilian software market . This English company will be inaugurating its Rio de Janeiro office in two or three months time, in order to meet with local market demands. This initiative is in direct response to the utilization of its product in the Brazilian shipbuilding market, with special reference to the Aviv Net Portal, an online portal enabling integration of various environments with a variety of information items on the same project, which then can be linked together. This tool works within ISO 15926 standards concerning industrial processes. It is compatible with other software programs, including those manufactured by other companies. The French company Dassault Systems, which has a office in Brazil, is back at Navalshore this year to boost it’s presence in the shipbuilding market to which it gained entry after its exhibition at our Trade Fair in 2007. This company provides 3D applications for managing product life cycles (PLM - Product Life Cycle Management) and for managing product information (PDM - Product Data Management). Marcos Figueiredo, Director of the company, emphasized that Dassault applications permit industries to construct their products — which could be aircraft, automobiles, ships, platforms and other industrial products – with the possibility of carrying out virtual testing during the development stage, thereby reducing production costs and increasing production efficiency. “Our solutions are very much in line with this market. Participation in the Fair heralds the start of the company’s entry strategy. We are here to boost our prominence in the shipbuilding industry”, he declared. The company has already signed a contract with UFRJ (Rio campus of the Federal University) and is now negotiating with the Mauá shipyard.

PhDSoft

A 100% Brazilian company, is growing rapidly in its business of providing software for the specific purpose of controlling and predicting corrosion in ships, port equipment and static structures such as bridges, cranes and oil pipelines. The company’s current objective is to enter into partnership with shipyards and shipowners in construction of seagoing vessels and platforms. “The idea is that the vessels leave the shipyards with their C4D (four dimemsional cinema monitoring) systems already in place, monitoring corrosion on the day they are launched. This makes it possible to reduce maintenance costs and, consequently, increase the useful life of the vessel”, says Raquel de Camargo, the company’s representative. PhDSoft, currently supplying its technological expertise to Transpetro, Petrobras and Shell, began negotiations at a Navalshore Trade Fair with Log-in Logística and the Mauá shipyard and made contacts with the Eisa shipyard and Triunfo Logística.

Koreans

Ronaldo Arouca, representative of Sy Marine do Brasil, says that taking part in Navalshore was a positive experience, enabling him to gain visibility in the market. “I am receiving lots of calls now to enquire about what we can offer”, he declared.

The company is introducing Brazilian and Korean businesses with prospects of forming trade partnerships. A number of negotiations are already underway. In all, there are more than 15 companies represented; five of them recorded their presence at the Navalshore exhibition. Haean Machinery Industries, crane manufacturers, is one of those that came and is already in negotiating with Strauss Tecnologia, in the south of Brazil, and with Pigeon, Rio de Janeiro. Furthermore, after the Fair, the Santa Catarina company Cimef Metalurgia S.A. made contact with the Sy Marine office in Rio de Janeiro to embark and get underway, full speed ahead after business negotiations with Haean, en route for future technology transfer projects. Additionally, Panasia also has made business contacts with an unnamed Brazilian Company. The other exhibitor companies, TankTech, Daeyang and Hyundai Heavy Industries, are interested in firming partnerships for representatives in Brazil and for rendering of services here.

Differentials

One of the most acclaimed characteristics of Navalshore is the physical space available: not too cramped and not too vast. This differential is what makes our Trade Fair an excellent venue for meeting new contacts and renewing old business partnerships. In the opinion of José Carlos Esteves, commercial manager for Bkanav, which provides lighting products, Navalshore has the right size for not splitting up groups of visitors. “In the very large exhibitions, if you don’t plan out your visit before you get there, you end up not finding what you are looking for”, he remarks. But there are those who think that the space at the Fair is too small. Claudio Ribeiro, for instance, director of Promel Projetos e Montagens Elétricas, operating in the engineering, fabrication, and electrical installations business says: “This is the fourth year I take part; and each time is better than the previous one. We are running out of space.” Carlos Cesar Pereira, commercial manager for Faub Equipamentos Industriais, claims that the Trade Fair’s differential is in the public it addresses. “This is the first time that Faub takes part in Navalshore and we are being sought by persons in compatible lines of business. We are more interested in quality rather than the quantity of those who visit us”, he explained. Esab, a Navalshore veteran, in the business of welding and flame cutting, makes full use of the Fair for renewing contact with its clients. According to his technical consultant, Pedro Muniz, Navalshore is more than a Trade Fair; it is a venue for keeping contact with sector colleagues. The Lincoln Electric marketing assistant, Danielle Vargas, agrees with her Esab colleague. “The Fair is becoming more institutional”, she says. Henry Didjurgeit, project supervisor for Provolt, supplier of electrical/electronic equipment, volunteers the opinion that Navalshore has exceeded all his expectations. “Usually, my ongoing business is practically finalized at the Fair”, he tells us. “This is the fourth year we take part and we are making a lot of contacts. Since sector projects are now likely to happen, everything is rushing ahead” he exclaims.

For Fábio Mimessi, the Air Products Brasil applications engineer, Navalshore was a good opportunity to make new contacts in Rio de Janeiro, now that his company will be opening a factory in Santa next year. “We can see that the Fair is a busy event and visitors are showing lots of interest, it is really well worth while taking part.”
Recreio Tubos e Acessórios is also celebrating its participation in Navalshore this year. “The results are excellent”, says the commercial representative João Batista. “We have closed a very interesting deal with the Atlântico Sul company from Pernambuco.” Transpetro also expressed its appreciation of the event. In the opinion of Elizio Araújo Neto, executive manager of the company, the Trade Fair’s success makes it manifestly evident that the Naval Sector is growing: “It is quite clearly on the upswing”. Besides his comments on the sectors economic health, the executive made a point of congratulating the Fairs organizers and the way in which it provides an opportunity for a better understanding of products and suppliers.