For Sergio Machado, politics was an exclusive lover

When Sergio Machado joined politics in 1986, he gave up all his former titles. Sergio owned Vilejack jeans factory and a school, was the president of Ceará Industrial Center (CIC), owned TV Jangadeiro (SBT network), Fortaleza, and the FM Radio Education of Crateús (EC)  but gave up all and moved business to his children. For him, politics was an ‘exclusive lover’ which demanded his full attention.

Machado was 16 when he accompanied his father in exile in France. This was the time when he learnt the most intellectual lesson of his life. Sergio Machado learnt from his father that power was transient. His inclination towards politics was always very strong. Machado studied administration at the Getulio Vargas Foundation in Rio and participated in the student movement and the march of 100,000 in 1968.

In his political career, he never took handouts but earned his way up. The CIC group had Tasso Jereissati as protagonist and entered politics with a modern discourse, in contrast to the existing policy of the State Colonels. Machado became Interior Minister in the first term of Tasso, but it turned away when Ciro Gomes occupied space in the party, chosen as candidate for governor of Ceará. Machado continued in the PSDB and was elected congressman in 1990. Four years later competed in and won election to the Senate.
Being the man responsible for resuscitating Brazilian Naval Industry, Jose Sergio de Oliveira Machado rarely used to go out of Transpetro before 23 hours. He would work religiously and was often sighted having his lunch in the evening, spending all afternoon handling the tasks
No wonder, Machado made the cover of British magazine ‘Fairplay’ under the ‘Virtual Reality’ title.  He also appeared on the list of 100 most powerful person of the ship industry. He was placed 65th, just behind the president of Vale, Roger Agnelli and 16 positions ahead of Eike Batista.

SERGIO MACHADO of TRANSPETRO, THE R $ 8.3 BILLION MAN

JOSE SERGIO DE OLIVEIRA MACHADO of TRANSPETRO

Listening to the classical music on his ipod, Machado used to work 14-16 hours daily in his office. Jose Sergio de Oliveira Machado, President of  Transpetro was passionate about two things; his work and music. He had an eclectic taste in music, ranging from classical to Nat King Cole and Frank Sinatra the hinterland. The sound of his preferred music reaching his ears made him work more efficiently.

The president of Petrobras carrier used to monitor five 32-inch flat screens in his office, in real time, the flow of gas pipelines and 3.6 million barrels of oil in the company’s pipeline, the construction of the ship Celso Furtado, and the position of the vessels of the company worldwide. 

Among his responsibilities, Machado used to run the Program for Modernization and Expansion of the Fleet (Promef). It is a program of R $ 8.3 billion budget that aims to order 49 new ships to be built in Brazil. 

Sergio Machado believed in the philosophy that the oil could never be a curse but a gift for transformation. No country is sovereign without its own merchant fleet: 80% of world trade and 95% of the country’s is done by ships. Brazil spends annually $ 16 billion (R $ 28.1 billion) - Petrobras alone spends $ 2 billion (US $ 3.5 billion).

Transpetro made studies on the bottlenecks to make the fragile marine industry in Brazil one of the  most competitive ones in the world. The beginning was difficult.

The biggest challenge for Sergio Machade was to create a sustainable industry. He went to Korea, Japan, and what he saw was too huge and overwhelming.  For Machado, ships in Brazil by Promef, offered great strategic advantages in spite of being 3 % more expensive for it offered a great economic benefit

Sergio Machado launches the first Promef Ship built in Rio de Janeiro

Sergio Machado launches the first Promef Ship built in Rio de Janeiro

Under the aegis of Sergio Machado, Transpetro launched a ship at the Mauá Shipyard.  This was the first ship built in the state of Rio de Janeiro for the Program for Modernization and Expansion of the Fleet (Promef). The launch was attended by Governor Sérgio Cabral, the Transport Minister Paulo Sergio Passos, the acting president of Petrobras, Grace Foster, and the president of Transpetro,Sergio Machado. The event marked the revamp of shipbuilding industry in the country as one of the economic vocations.

At a news conference on the roof of Windsor Guanabara Hotel, Center of Rio de Janeiro, the president of Transpetro, Jose Sergio de Oliveira Machado, said the ship would carry the name ‘Celso Furtado’, named after the economist who created the SUDENE and released the latest industrial development cycle of the country. It is a vessel for the transportation of light oil products with a capacity of 48,300 dwt and 183 meters long.
The state of Rio, largest and most traditional naval hub of the country, already has 16 vessels ordered by Promef, with R $ 2.25 billion in investments. The program will create at least 50,000 jobs in the state, 10 thousand direct and 40 thousand indirect jobs.

The Mauá Shipyard which will build four Promef product tankers, is located in Ponta D'Areia, in Niterói, the region where the Brazilian shipbuilding industry started in the nineteenth century at the hands of the Baron of Mauá. President Sergio Machado at the ceremony said that a circle was completed.  He said that the restructuring of Brazilian Naval Industry was initiated at the same spot from where the industry began.
The ship Celso Furtado is the first commissioned to a Rio de Janeiro shipyard by Petrobras to be thrown overboard, 23 years after the last order. The latter had been the Livramento, completed in 1997 by Eisa Shipyard. The vessel took 10 years to complete, amid a severe industry crisis. A Brazilian naval industry, which had been the world’s second largest manufacturer in the 1970s, virtually disappeared from radar from the 1980s.