Thaís Leitão
Reporter - Agência Brasil

Rio - The federal government plans to invest US$ 74.16 million (R$ 160 million) on port access improvements and modernization as part of the Investment Pilot Plan (PPI), which foresees investments totaling US$ 3 billion on transportation infrastructure projects between now and 2007.

These investments made it possible for the Queen Mary II, designed to be the world's largest transatlantic ocean liner, to dock at the Mauá Pier, in Rio de Janeiro, in the final week of January, without the aura of preoccupation that surrounded its arrival in Brazil on its maiden voyage in 2004.

This year the Docks Company, which is in charge of administering the Rio port complex, removed around 80 thousand cubic meters of sand from the floor of the bay. This emergency operation opened the way for the ship to enter the Rio de Janeiro port, since, without dredging, there was a risk the ship would run aground.

Since last year similar dredging operations have been underway simultaneously in seven major Brazilian ports: Rio de Janeiro and Itaguaí (RJ), Vitória (ES), Santos (SP), Rio Grande (RS), and Itajaí and São Francisco do Sul (SC).

Translation: David Silberstein