TAP has established a commercial partnership with TAM for cargo transport that will broaden relations between the two companies and bring many advantages to the development of this business area. The contract was signed by Luis Ribeiro Vaz, TAP Executive Administrator and Carlos Amodeo, TAM Cargo Director, at the close of the 15th edition of Intermodal, the largest and most important gathering dedicated to the logistics, transport and international trade sectors of the Americas, held this week in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
At the event TAP Executive Administrator Luis Ribeiro Vaz outlined the importance of the agreement “in promoting an incredible synergy between the two companies that can hence benefit from the complementary nature of their routes to extend their cargo transport supply networks in South America and Europe to mutual benefit." Underlining the proposal, TAM Cargo Director Carlos Amodeo stated it was also "reinforcing the partnership already initiated with the inclusion of TAM as a member of Star Alliance”.
With the new agreement TAP will expand its cargo transport network to new destinations, namely in Brazil to Vitoria, Florianopolis, Porto Alegre, Curitiba, Manaus, Belem, Goiania, Aracaju, Joao Pessoa and Sao Luis, hence reinforcing the importance of the Brazilian market for the company’s cargo business, as well as to other important cities in South America such as Buenos Aires (Argentina), Asuncion (Paraguay), Lima (Peru), Montevideo (Uruguay), Santiago (Chile).
Currently operating an average of 10 flights a day connecting Brazil to Europe and Africa via Portugal and departing from eight different gateways, TAP offers cargo transport capacity of the order of 140 tons a day to distribute Brazilian products.
To add to the availability of this daily company capacity which is substantial, note also the advantage of this transport supply being sectioned off into eight cities, reaching practically all the producing regions of Brazil and thus contributing to a large extent to reaffirming Portugal as the preferential port of entry for Brazilian exports into Europe. In 2008, TAP totaled around 17 thousand tons of cargo transported from Brazil.
The partnership now established between TAP and TAM reflects investment by both companies in joint coordinated work as means of overcoming the world economic crisis, transforming this enormous challenge into an opportunity for business development.
This cooperation also results in other advantages for both companies, such as, for example the opening up of a larger export market from any point in Brazil to any point in Europe, based on a better logistics' option, enabling greater speed when placing products in developing markets and the reinforcement of Brazil and Portugal as cargo hubs in Latin America and Europe.
