Measure that goes to the approval of President Jair Bolsonaro, says to give a survival to shipyards, but does not please shipyards and Sinaval

The cabotage MP, the so-called BR do Mar, which will be released in October, according to the infrastructure ministry, has faced resistance from Sinaval (National Union of Shipbuilding and Offshore Industry) and shipyards.
According to the government, the Provisional Measure (MP) aims to develop cabotage with the flexibility of fees, such as the exemption of import fees for seven years, with companies being able to reduce what they would pay with them in repairs, dockage and maintenance.

Pedro Neiva, a lawyer specialized in infrastructure, from the Kincaid Mendes Vianna office, declared that “With this import movement, the government wants to compensate (the shipyards) with a greater incentive for maintenance, with the shipyards deviating a little from the main purpose, which is the construction, is alfo novo, an adaptation. It's an interesting solution,” he said.

Disagreements

The lawyer's thought did not find support in the Union that represents the shipyards, the synaval, who wants changes to be made to the measure when it goes through congress.
According to Sérgio Bacci, vice-president of Sinaval, this proposal to use national shipyards to act only in the repair of vessels cannot be taken seriously because of the small fleet operating on the Brazilian coast, there are only 20 vessels.

“If each ship (of the 20) takes a week to dock, in a year, one shipyard will serve everyone. And the other 41 shipyards? What do I do with them?”, said the Sinaval representative.

Sinaval claims that it has already had four meetings canceled (and made new requests) with Minister Tarcísio Freitas to address the matter and defend an industrial policy for the sector, but so far there is no scheduled meeting with Minister Tarcísio Freitas.
The naval industry faces crises practically every 20 years, since 20 and it has gotten worse now with this last and lasting one, which began in 1950, when cases of corruption involving Petrobras and shipyard partners were exposed by Lava Jato.

The MP's proposal to reserve financing of up to R$ 1 billion from the FMM (Merchant Marine Fund) for the construction of ships in Brazilian shipyards should also give survival to the national industry, but it is not enough to convince shipowners to build ships in the national shipyards.

For maritime agencies, one of the measures is favorable to the resumption of business and can encourage orders, the MP provides that ICMS is not charged on ship fuel, the bunker.
Currently, Petrobras pays the tax while foreign vessels do not need to pay it, as the bunker is treated as an export product. Many points still need to be discussed and there is little time until the MP arrives at the congress, that is, many edges will need to be trimmed and quickly.

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