Grupo Tribuna launches photographic book that revisits 130 years of history of the Port of Santos

Event held this Tuesday (3), at the headquarters of Grupo Tribuna, in Santos, brought together authorities and guests for an autograph-signing evening (Alexsander Ferraz/AT)

How many stories fit, every day, into Port of Santos, a giant that moved 186.4 million tons last year alone? And over more than 13 decades? The communications company that has followed this journey for the longest time reinforces this bond with the launch of the book 130 Anos em Fatos e Fotos – Porto de Santos. The event, held on Tuesday (3) evening at the headquarters of Grupo Tribuna, brought together authorities, guests, and former employees who celebrated the history moored in book form.

In total, the book features 130 images that span different moments of port activity, highlighting changes in working methods as well as in customs. The publication concludes the trilogy commemorating the 130th anniversary of A Tribuna, celebrated in 2024, which also included two other works: one focused on general photojournalism and another on Santos Futebol Clube and King Pelé.

The curation was carried out by journalist Lyne Santos and photojournalist Sílvio Luiz. The work is published by Editora Leopoldianum, of Universidade Católica de Santos (UniSantos), made possible through the Municipal Tax Incentive Program to Support Culture (Promicult) of Prefeitura de Santos, which encourages cultural projects in the City through tax exemptions on municipal taxes. Sponsorship is provided by the port company DP World.

“I tried to focus on the most striking facts, those that stay in people’s memories. Because when we think about the Port, we tend to remember intense events such as accidents, shipwrecks, and fires, but there are also good things, such as cruise ships and transformations. So, at first, I worked with what immediately came to mind,” says Lyne. “As I worked here (as a reporter at A Tribuna) for many years, along the way I became familiar with what had happened, which helped in this recovery.”

Journalist Lyne Santos conducted research on the historical facts of the Port (Alexsander Ferraz/AT)

Sílvio Luiz adds that the “prospecting” of images for the book started from a universe of more than 6,000 photos related solely to the Port. “From 6,000, we reduced it to 1,000, then to 600, until we reached 130. We filtered them by periods and realized that it was necessary to follow a chronological order, starting from past decades to the present day. And it was imperative for us to have a book about the Port,” assesses the experienced photojournalist.

The president and CEO of TV Tribuna, Roberto Clemente Santini, recalls that the pages of A Tribuna have followed the history of the Port for decades, showing its evolution, challenges, and achievements. “Over time, the newspaper has followed the history of the City. And this book tells the story of the Port of Santos. The cranes have changed, as have the port terminals and the ships, and we sought to publish this timeline. The Port is two years older than A Tribuna. We put together a very interesting compilation. I am very happy to be offering this to the population.”

The book’s originator, Grupo Tribuna’s Manager of Projects and Institutional Relations, Arminda Augusto, highlights the coincidence of dates — the launch takes place one day after the 134th anniversary of the Port of Santos. “Of course, there are many thousands more photos, which also demonstrates the quality of our photographers.” The books are not sold but distributed within the limits of the print run. The material will also be made available next week in PDF format, with free access on the A Tribuna website.