Dan Brouillette, Secretary of Energy of the United States of America visited the Port of Sines on February 12, accompanied by that country's Ambassador to Lisbon, George Glass.
Pedro Nuno Santos, Minister of Infrastructures and Housing and Alberto Souto de Miranda, Assistant Secretary of State and Communications, received the delegation, accompanied by the Port of Sines Authority (APS) Board of Directors.
This visit confirmed the growing interest that the American Government has shown in the Port of Sines, namely with regard to the increase in LNG (Liquefied Natural Gas) trade. In fact, the visit started by the Sines LNG Terminal, responsible for supplying around 90% of our country's needs, and which has been receiving part of the LNG imported from the USA (the so-called Shale Gas).
Another type of cargo on top of the bilateral Portugal - USA agenda is containerized cargo. PSA Sines, the company awarded the concession of the Sines Container Terminal - Terminal XXI, received the delegation at the quay front due for expansion in the near future. The terminal’s General Manager had the opportunity to present the planning allowing to double the infrastructure’s installed capacity to 4.1M TEU, offering a quay front of 1.750m. Still regarding containerized cargo, José Luís Cacho, APS CEO, presented the future container terminal - Terminal Vasco da Gama, whose international public tender was launched last October, and has been attracting the attention of some American companies.
The visit of the US Secretary of Energy was accompanied by a business delegation, comprising a series of companies both related to Natural Gas - Venture Global LNG, Next-Decade, Cheniere and Penn America Energy; and the construction and operation of container terminals - Ports America, Jacobs Engineering, Bechtel Civil Infrastructure and AECOM.
It should be noted that the Port of Sines offers four regular weekly and bi-weekly services to the USA, calling the main American ports on both coasts - East and West.
Photos:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/146404026@N03/albums/72157713085663738