The development and modernization of the Port of Santos are constantly debated by the São Paulo State Dock Company (Codesp), the port authority, and agents linked to the maritime and port sector.

At the end of September, during the 1st Paulista Congress of Maritime and Port Law, held at the Santos Commercial Association, Codesp's president, Casemiro Tércio de Carvalho, pointed to this need, besides demanding proactivity from those involved in the port community.

"Port can no longer be the sugar bag over your shoulder. You go to other ports in the world and there is no person on the dock, it's all automated. But this workforce is somewhere doing it there. There is no a person on the side, but there are 500 engineers in a building doing the programming, "said Carvalho.

"We have to do this because, if not Santos, some other port on the Brazilian coast will assume this responsibility," he amended.

In the view of Agelino Caputo e Oliveira, executive director of the Brazilian Association of Terminals and Bonded Enclosures (Abtra), the Port of Santos should be consolidated, by 2030, as a Latin American hub port.

"The expectation is that, first, it ended this long crisis. The Port, probably at this time, and with the actions being taken strategically by the Government, has consolidated itself in the role of hub port of Latin America. It will be a large cargo concentrator and receive larger ships, which are increasingly coming to the Southern Hemisphere. From Santos, this cargo will be distributed, in smaller vessels, to other ports, both in Brazil and in the Southern Hemisphere ", assessed Caputo.

President of the National Federation of Port Operations (Fenop), Sergio Aquino is looking forward to the end of political interference within the technical decisions of Port.

"(The political issue) is still the great obstacle and the great questioning of the Port of Santos and the whole system of organized ports in the country. We do not have a legal instrument that effectively shields the political influence on the port administrations. The government has established technical directorates, but there is no guarantee that this will continue after the present government leaves, "said Aquino, recalling that the Port of Santos had a period between 2007 and 2010 with a technical directorate.

For Fenop member, the port of Santos "is a great candidate to become a hub port", however, depends on other factors. Among them, he highlighted the need for systems that ensure an effectively organized, professionalized port, as well as the competitive recovery of cabotage in Brazil.

For economist and university professor Helio Hallite, a specialist in the sector, Port is behind schedule and suffers from a lack of planning. Moreover, he agrees with Aquino's view that political interference has always been the biggest obstacle.

"I recently presented the 'Rotterdam 2030' project in a lecture. This theme was launched over 10 years ago. Santos has no clear ideas about his future and the worst, compared to other ports, is behind schedule. It will take a leap in history. An example of this is the degradation of the Valongo pier. And to think that the Argentines settled their Puerto Madero in 1994. But the most serious is the fact that there is no such promised 'industrial district', ' logistics condominiums 'and several other projects that never got off the ground,' Hallite mused.

For the teacher, hub port is a term "that became fashionable, those conceptual fashions". However, he warned that the hub port must be deeper "than our shy 13 meters". "However, we have a very important location. That is the only factor," said the economist.