The company recently acquired 25-year terminal concessions in Salvador and Rio Grande do Sul.

Set up by British entrepreneurs in Salvador, Bahia in 1837, Wilson, Sons offers a vast array of services at Brazilian ports, including cargo loading and unloading and shipping agency services. It dominates the towage sector in Brazil with a 55 percent market share and is now the largest towage company in Latin America. Additionally, Wilson, Sons benefits strongly from its presence in all of Brazil’s major ports.

Expanding from its core towage business, Wilson, Sons recently became a major player in the area of terminal administration after acquiring two 25-year terminal concessions at the ports of Salvador and Rio Grande do Sul. It was one of the first private companies to acquire one of these concessions.

“We believed in this area and started investing heavily right from the start,” declares CEO Cezar Baião. The company invested in its terminals, while others contented themselves with using what the government had ceded them. Wilson, Sons’ dynamism paid off and now it controls 98 percent of the Rio Grande do Sul container market and is the third largest port terminal operator in Brazil.

Flexibility and resilience have been Wilson, Sons’ secret during its 170 years of history as a port operator. A remarkable accomplishment given the ups and downs of the Brazilian economy throughout this time.

“Of course we have had some difficult times but if you are agile and creative, you can turn things around,” explains Baião.

Now the company sees a bright future with foreign trade exploding in Brazil and the demand for port services continually rising. “We are extremely positive about the current situation,” he affirms.

One of Wilson, Sons’ key advantages is that it offers a wide range of port services, which allows shipowners to deal with just one intermediary. “Wilson, Sons can offer a basket of products to shipowners and it makes total sense for that type of customer to deal with just one agent,” Baião elaborates. As of December 2006, all Wilson, Sons’ clients have used at least two of the company’s services, and two-thirds used three or more.

Brazilian exports have been growing substantially in recent years, driven primarily by agricultural and metals commodities. Meanwhile, solid economic growth and falling interest rates have caused demand for imports to rise.

“In certain commodities, the country still has a lot of room to grow,” states Baião, singling out the growth potential of fuel ethanol. This potential would be even greater if Brazil resolved some of its infrastructure issues. The country’s roads and rail links are struggling under the weight of increasing exports, while port capacity is being stretched.

For the future, Wilson, Sons is looking to compliment the gamut of services it offers, expanding its port terminal operations as well as increasing offshore services.

Meanwhile, the company is looking at expanding beyond Brazil’s borders into other South American countries, such as Uruguay and Chile. With ambitious plans for the future in mind, earlier this year, Wilson, Sons chose to take advantage of positive market conditions to launch an initial public offering of shares, which raised close to $350 million.