This year, the Ultra Group has a birthday of 85 with its origins in 1937 when Ernesto Igel founded Ultragaz, a pioneer company in GLP, kitchen gas, home gas. The group consolidated itself as one of the biggest groups in the country, being highlighted in its sectors. Ultragaz, a leader in the distribution of gas, delivers energy in homes and in the business of its clients with comfort and in practical ways, whatever it is. Ultragaz, it is differentiated by innovation and the creation of solutions for its clients. That meets about 11 million homes and 50 million company clients in bulk segment. Ultracargo is the biggest private company of storage in gas and fuels present in the main ports of Brazil with modern terminals and safety ones for storage and handling of chemical products, fuels, biofuels, and vegetable oils.
In 2021, it enlarged its geographic areas with the operations with a new terminal in Vila do Conde in the state of Pará. Ipiranga, one of the biggest distributors of fuels and lube products, acts out to supply energy for people's mobility with gas stations which are increasingly more digital and complete, recognized by every Brazilian. Also a leader in a segment in convenience stores like ampm and digital payments. Resilience, differentiated solidity and governance. The Ultra Group forms leaderships for the future that values the relationships of partnerships, long-run partnerships. The Ultra Group advanced significantly in the strategy of reviewing its portfolios with this investment in Oxiteno and Extrafarma that made it viable more completely synergetic portfolio. The company comes to 2022 strengthened to create long-term value generation and prepared for a new cycle of growth.
The Ultra Group, for 85 years, investing in essential business to the development of the country, generating value for society. Good morning, all. Welcome to the Ultra Day. We're very happy to be with you here today. I would like to announce some safety issues here, which is a very important thing today. Nothing is foreseen here. In any case of risk situations, everyone is prepared here to lead necessary actions. To start the Ultra Day, I would like to invite Marcos Lutz up front, and then we will introduce the other areas of business. Marcos.
Hello, Andre. Thank you. Well, thank you very much. Good morning. Thank you for being here.
I believe everyone is happy, including myself, after this pandemic moment, to be able to have this meeting presence, meeting people that we know for so long and interact with nice conversations and normally very interesting and very positive. We're going to have more added to this. Short ago we had a meeting with 4,000 sales reps from Ipiranga, and it was a very special moment. I hope that this pandemic moment has gone by and that we will have more moments like that. I would like to thank you here. We're very happy to have most of our investors with us. Many faces that we know, people who are very loyal and who are here with us for a long time.
Today, I would just like to mention we're going to have the president of the business speaking, a little about what we're heading towards in the business, and we will also be talking with some of you that have scheduled some meetings for this afternoon. At the end of this morning, we'll be sitting here and we'll have a Q&A moment, which is a part that I really like. I would like not to extend. I would like to invite our friend to speak on Ultragaz, and I'd like to thank you for being here.
Okay, now. Good morning all. We'll be talking here about Ultragaz. We're very happy to have your presence here with us. For this event and this retaking that Marco has discussed about after the pandemic.
In the case here at Ultragaz, our idea is to bring a different presentation, different from that traditional one that we used to have. We decide to bring here more objective points of our company, highlighting especially what is happening in the company, how is the company, what were the main points of its evolutions. It's a way also for us to see the future and these levers that we have. We'll be showing the various differentials that Ultragaz has conquered throughout the last years, and share with you our future perspective. Summarizing here from all that we're going to discuss, we have two main concepts that we talk about this evolution. We talk about capillarity of the market, which is a strong brand. This is the characteristic of the company well-known from you.
I really don't know how much this is understood. Ultragaz is a national brand with its presence all over Brazil, especially having its own operations with its sales reps present in the daily life of the population. You have a notion of this. This moment today, we have about 30,000 with this, visiting places all over Brazil. We have this innovation to deliver this, and we have this direct influence with clients and that part that we talk about that contact with the client. This associated with the brand that this year completes about 85 years, and that has strengthened this relationship of reliability with the client. A very capillary company, well-respected by the clients, and this shows a lot of potential. We'll be talking about this later on.
When we talk about the main segments that we talk about proximity and relationship with the client, the biggest segment of volume, for example, the home, we see this, that we have an average 11 million homes that are visited every month by our professionals. We estimate that 80 million deliveries every year, throughout the year, very quick deliveries, a forecast of supplying a very modern and updated way. In this way, we have started the digital way of doing this to create an interaction with the client in this capacity of being close to the client, which has been a characteristic of the company that has evolved lately.
We can see here the evolution of our resale portfolio, which is very important and has been very important over the last years, by selling this in a more individual way to the clients. This home segment, well-supported by your resale network. Another segment of more relevance, which is the business, it is the model that is very similar. This relationship with the business, we're talking about commerce and various services, and we have a direct relationship, and we should close the year with 60 million customers, in a close relationship with Ultragaz, not only for commercialization of products, but all of these clients has a long-term contract. Our average contract is 50 months. 50% of our customers have a very long run relationship supported by its own logistics, a very efficient one.
We have our own way of working, and we can see that increasingly we have been specialized in this relationship with the clients. We have already talked about this in other opportunities. We have new ways of specialized ways to grow with them. It has represented about 30% of the acquisition of new customers in the business areas, and that we have developed with solutions for each of these segments. Various segments like laundry and having its own solutions, and this has really enhanced loyalty of these customers in the long run, encouraging us to see different perspectives. Completing and complementing what we have talked about our evolution and what we can do for both segments, we have some points, some support points here for our operations.
A relevant one, especially that has increased over the last years in the company, was our important investment in infrastructure. It's a capillary business, informed by the resellers, and it has a very adequate structure. We have evolved a lot over the last years. Over the last year, we had a shipping expedition area in northeast and north of Brazil, and this has brought very important benefits. First of all, for the evolution of this proximity of the client and being able to leverage what we can have in both segments. It also allows capturing relevant operational issues that you can have, that you might have seen over the last years. This is the evolution that we've had in our infrastructure, and that has been very relevant to the area.
Which is also intrinsic to our operations in the GLP, which is the safe operations safety journey over the last years, the perspective to continue to have important advancements ahead. We've had this challenge, especially of transforming culturally the objective of becoming a company which is totally oriented by safety. We have things to do, but clearly we are in the right path, in the right way. Many of you, and I can be a witness for this, I know the company for a long time, I know that the company will evolve in this area of safety, and that will affect our markets. Recently, we improved our ESG journey, which is something apart from the business. Our vision for the company was to highlight this as a value generator in the long run.
We see this sustainability as being part of our strategic long run plan. We structure ourselves in four pillars in terms of energy that redirects our decisions in the long run. The first one is the energy to innovate, which is our commitment for innovation and development, and also having a positive impact either in the consumption and products. This is a commitment that we have had. Second energy is the human energy. Here we talk about our people, our employees, our reps, sales reps, that they evolve in diversity and embracing the new, and we have various programs of the company to have this transformation process.
The third one, it is the citizenship or the citizen energy that has a social presence in the communities it works, it renders services, and we see spaces there for growth, and we saw a lot of highlights importance that made us go through this process of the pandemic. Then the ethics, the energy of ethics, developing positive values for the entire society. All these sets of actions that we have highlighted so far, summarizing, that first of all gives us trust of the sustainability that we have had throughout the last years. Our results, the proximity with the clients, the added value for our customers and the operation capacity, which has increasingly become robust. We also add to this, the main levers that we have for the future.
Main levers that we have for the future. We have various projects of great expectation. I tried here to just summarize it, showing four of them, starting with operational excellence. We've had recent evolutions in our efficiency and cost in our operations. We believe in the space down the line, and we're searching for that in the short and long run. A topic that we have discussed a lot, the transformation of supplies in GLP, for example. We see a market that is already under transformation, and we have expectations for the market in a long run.
We strengthen our innovation in this market, which is a very mature market, and we believe that the way of innovation has shown itself as being very important for our results and that we should continue and really focus on what we have discussed recently, seeing this platform model that was developed and seeing the opportunities that have been appearing and in this energy transition undergoing the situations Brazil will face in the near future. Just to highlight what we have seen as opportunities for each of these fronts, starting which is the supplies and operational excellence, which are those near and are to be delivered in a short run.
In operational efficiency, we have various projects to be associated in those investments that we have been making, and we've had the condition to reduce operational costs, at least in real terms, despite of all of the logistics involved that we have seen. We have a level of automation, which has been very important, through the various innovation bases, and we have a total automated process. We start to see this transition in supplies. Today, Ultragaz is about five private contracts, which is not 15% of our clients with various benefits, specifically for the cost of products, the conditions of supplies, pricing, which can be differentiated for the client. We open new ways, when we can see a great potential, which is very nice over the long run.
These are the first two levers. The third one that we talked about of the innovation. We see the innovation of the company always focusing on enlarging our main competencies, which is being closer to the client, serve better, add more value. Nothing exhaustive, just to give you an example of what we have done. Recently, we launched Ultragaz 24 hours a day on any machine, a physical innovation to enlarge the times of services for the client and we've had a lot of evolution in the digital world. Every client, especially from the business areas, has a special portal depending on the relationship it has with the company and this is being used a lot.
The home segment, domicile, the world of apps, our apps with various partnerships with other apps, this has grown a lot and this has become very relevant for the results. Once again, we've been enlarging the contact channels of relationships with the clients that allows us to increase our capillarity. When we talk about the company innovation, we see here in this segment a lot of segmentation for these clients. The point of innovations, we completed 24 solutions launched for these terms that bring some benefits for the clients, rather the consumption, a decrease of consumption.
Today we have 58,000 clients that already have relationships because of these innovations that we have launched or other energetic points that did not have the complete benefits that we started to offer with our solutions, including various other benefits in terms of relationships. At the end, we have a client with a lot more engagement with us, facing a long run relationship. Also specific for the domicile segment or the home segment, a more recent journey. It's a great challenge that we have and that we have surpassed. Here we talk about a market transaction. Basically we have launched last year an app of relationship with the employees of the resales people.
We have already 2,000 and those that deliver the products from our sales reps, and they go to the final client using this platform. The second example here is from our partner, our relationship with the resellers, network developed with the resellers, to be able to create the solution, jointly. Today, we have in this platform your entire life of relationships with Ultragaz since the transactions into training, development, marketing campaign to resale processes. Once again, this brings a lot of proximity of these resellers with us and also the success of our app that connects everyone in the same platform. We have more than 2 million clients in this platform. Every quarter we believe that this will increase and this is totally transparent.
The operation belongs to the reseller, and we just follow up and suggest and develop improvements of the level of service which are rendered by the resellers' people. With all this evolution that we've had so far, we come to that last level, that is something that we have studied deeply, and which is to see all of this energy transition process and try to capture what Ultragaz can do with a differentiated value. We can see as a platform of relationships and the direct presence of relationships not only of delivering the product, but also strong relationships with our clients. Our vision that we can enlarge these solutions very similar to what we have done in this business area.
Also, showing different energies, which is something natural for us, and we see this as a very important value lever. With all this and with this perspective, we believe very well that first of all, in the sustainability, we could talk about other values. We have been able to add value and expand our value generation despite this market by being a mature market, and that has been stable over the years, and I believe that it will continue as such, but it will also depend on the sustainability and the evolution that it has so far. Especially, considering that these levers can open new ways. This is a brief summary with the main perspective. I would like to show you a video with the main messages of the day. Could you please show the video?
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Very well. Very nice. Thank you all for your attention. I'd like to invite Décio.
Good morning, all. It's a pleasure to be here with you in person. Nobody could take that anymore, being at home but just being in a home office setting. Before we start this presentation, I'd like to show you a quick video showing our operations.
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Well, as you could see in the video last year, we came to 1 million cubic of capacity with the conclusion of the works of Itaqui and the Vila do Conde terminal. It's important to highlight that the two projects last year, they were finished before we expected. Vila do Conde should be now, and Itaqui also we anticipated in 6 months. Most important is that with all the cost increase last year and still we concluded this project below cost. It's important to dominate the implementation of projects and engineering. A project that is born on time, if it's not controlled, it does not recover this. This expansion places us ahead of the competition, and this presence in these geographies help us to treat the clients with a differentiated value proposition as compared to the market.
Speaking a bit more of our solutions, we render logistics services. We are inserted in the importation and exportation chain of chemical products, fuels, alcohol, vegetable oils, and we also dispatch to various modes. When we talk about long-term contracts and to ensure the revenue stability, we also preserve the capacity to have the spot trade and the opportunities that will allow us to increase in terms of profitability, not affecting the revenue stability to buffer the investments that we have. We have five main issues that sustains our company. The first one, which is the succession, social, environmental responsibility, also people.
The main mission of the leadership of the company is to have an inclusive culture that accepts diversity, that challenges people, so that ensures sustainability for the company in the long run. In terms of technology, which are the levers, to have low-cost operations, prices given by the market, the cost we control, being the choice of the client. Without the client, we wouldn't be here as we have work differentiations and services, constantly with our operations and always searching for new ways of growth. The world is dynamic, the challenge of leadership to develop strategies to allow this. I'm going to face and show some of these topics throughout the presentation.
Starting with safety, which is our obsession, we have invested over the last three years BRL 75 million in terms of the integrity of our assets, tanks, detection systems, firefighting, launching foam automatically, and the capacity of our training of our employees. With this, we decreased 43% our rate of accidents, and we have noticed some stability, a change in the profile, including accidents with LTIs. The four occurrences, three of them were with third parties. The third party is not every day with you. You do not train or empower this person. They are contracts for maintenance.
Our responsibility has to be there to influence in our value chain, to stimulate the third parties to see more methods and processes to increase its qualifications in these areas and also incorporate to have the sustainability, processes, having the probability of involving other people and increasing this value chain. Talking about sustainability, we developed all of our material topics. I would like to highlight two important points for us. Eco-efficiency operations. You cannot operate without thinking in this area. All our energetic chains are considering this. We use a lot of water to have a lot of tests in tanks, and so we have very important targets for treated water. In our works last year, we saved about the equivalent to 6,000 families supplied for a month.
This is the logistics of you preserving this water, considering tank after tank. We highlighted 150 cubic meters just to test tanks, seeing these logistics and make this water run tank after tank. If we did so, we would delay. We saved to this amount. In terms of refining with the community, we well know that the main topic will be education. We know that qualified labor is very important, and we start this with basic education. We made a partnership with Instituto Ayrton Senna to work on the qualification of these individuals with basic education. We intend to follow this process and have this layout of these initiatives. We operate in Barcarena, we operate in Aratu, in São Luís, various municipalities that really have serious needs.
Talking about assertiveness, our three main areas, starting with Santos, the handling of chemicals, it started with 56%. The great bulk of this growth was captured in its expansion. If you see North and Northeast Brazil, there was an increase of 42% with Itaqui, and this is also going to be captured by Vila do Conde, and that will be a test for fuels there. That shows projects developments in the long run. Talking a little bit about productivity and technology, we have two key programs, very structuring pillars. The SOL, as we have talked about, a very nice name. Ultragaz developed this, which is a process developed based on our lean, very agile and safe.
In the connective project, we established a technology platform of systems unique in the company, scalable that gives agility in operations. From that, we are able to grow automation, remote, help and so on. This is the key for efficient operations. We start clearly to see these results. To say that Santos, where we started in 2020, practically this was more than half of the time of a cycle of a truck inside of our installations. Before it is loaded, getting its document and leaving, we reduced this time from four hours to two hours in 2020 to 2021. Itaqui and Aratu, we improved labor and tons handled by operators. If we see the utilization of assets, centers we grew 20% of the utilization of our assets.
Even Itaqui with a very strong rail loading, we improved 3% out of 10%. The best way to do this is to avoid CapEx. If I see this in a consolidated way with the effect of all these improvement effects, and if we see all of the costs and expenses that we have had, in 2019 we spent BRL 30 million with the expenses of the company. 2020, BRL 319 million. 2021, BRL 317 million. Is it stable? This is the local currency. From 2020 to 2021, we had inflation peaks. The year closed in 10%, IGP-M with peaks throughout the year. These were the most impacting elements of our cost. We had maintenance issues, a lot of imported materials.
If we create a deflation of these indicatives, we have about BRL 83 million compared to the BRL 319 million. It's not enough to see the total expense and the cost. We have to see the cost of the billed meter. We went from 2020 over the same period to BRL 23 meter billed meter. 26 to 27. Productivity which was obtained by the various programs we've had, plus the cost. This is the challenge for each company. We have to be capable to gain productivity so that we can see all the costs. We need to suppress, and here we suppress these results with a lot of dedication and a lot of efforts put in by the team. The programs are not all implemented.
We have a SOL in a level of 80% implementation in Santos. In Aratu and Itaqui in 60%. We are beginning a SOU in Rio de Janeiro. Conecta was implemented in Vila do Conde, Itaqui, Aratu, and Rio de Janeiro. It's possible to say that these gains of productivity will happen. Perhaps not in the same magnitude, but there are ways for us to run. Speaking about the comparison with our competition, as I promised, we are present in six geographies and 60% of the market share. Our two main competitors, they are all in one geographic area. The fact that places us in this multiple geography, that allows us to make our market share grow, and it becomes very difficult for the competition to match.
How have we been able to grow in a sustainable way in terms of revenue with the first geographic base? We have a very diversified client portfolio. We have here 80% of the revenue is in the market out of the group. We have to fight, we have to be competitive, we have to be there. A very good distribution of products, 49% of our products in the FO chains, 12% alcohol, 31% chemicals, and a good management of contracts. We try to have contracts with different terms, some that are being due in short run, average run, and a little of the revenue in the spot market to be able to take to give us a revenue stability.
We are able to have a very good management and a good balance in terms of revenue. Speaking more about demand, we are still very optimistic with this growth in demand. The market will be stimulated. The dynamics for privatization of refinery companies. Clients have needs for tankage strategies. If you do not have alternatives and the exportation is expensive, if you try, and if you have a way to import, so this stimulates extra tankage. Also the improvement of this, the importations become increasingly bigger, and we need more elements to unload these ships. We need to improve this tankage capacity in the country. How is Ultracargo prepared to capture a great part of this growth?
We have already a planned growth in Itaqui due to the auction that we won last year until 2026. Vila do Conde will capture part of this demand. In our terminals, in areas that we already have available, we have a way to grow 60% more our capacity. There is a platform which is ready to grow, always following the bidding processes, a good return. We will always be aggressive as if we were with Vila do Conde. Taking the advantage of this new rail laws that was approved, and we will be able to improve this, we have already requested a permit to connect our Santos terminal to a branch of 2 kilometers.
We'll have a more efficient logistics to put their products, our products in the countryside. There is no issue in our CO2 production because we'll leave from the truck to the train. If we see Itaqui that is connected to the railroad, it has a bigger turnover. I really make this more profitable and look at the value proposition to the client. You put your ship on Itaqui or Santos, and you will reoriented this value proposition. Besides this, we are placing a lot of energy in establishing presence in bases in the countryside of the country.
If we have operations expertise and of managing multiple clients, and with low capital, naturally I will be able to be in countryside bases, meeting the various distributors, being very competitive, relieving the balance, so that they can invest in some other things. We've been having this proposition of migrating to the countryside and improving this client proposition. We're also analyzing the logistics issues of the country, agribusiness, and other issues, and we've been seeing the opportunities that will come along. My time is over. This is my last slide. The consolidation for all this is a very strong growth for the next years. We reach very important records there. The advancements of the plans of growth highlighted by sustainability.
I know that we have some clients that will have some financial growth, which is even bigger, and we see no other way but matching these expectations. Thank you all. I'm going to invite someone to talk about Ipiranga with you.
Very well. Good morning. Before anything, thank you for being here. For those who are in the streaming and for those who are here, it's a good timing to talk about Ipiranga. My idea today is to divide with you our growth, the retaking of our growth. I would like to do this in a very transparent way, by saying what did not work over the last years. This diagnosis is very important even for us to define our work plan for the future.
I listed five factors that I don't think it's a surprise to any of you here, but this is just to contextualize, and I would like to bring this into details. First of all, Ipiranga over the last 20 years, maybe has been in the sector a company that has competently developed a business platform in a brand position. The problem was that at some moment we believed that we could capture more value with this, which the salesperson would possibly do. This made us advance our pricing, not having the reseller there being able to advance as well. We came to the profitability of the reseller, and that just wore out the relationships and affected the market. Besides this and within this pricing chapter, it took us a long time to structure this.
The pricing area in Ipiranga was very far from what we know as best practices. Pricing in this sector is extremely sensitive. One cent that you touch the volume of the company, it affects down the line. You need to be able to have an organization which is well-structured, processes which are well-structured, a decision point which is fed by market intelligence, which is not trivial, and we did not have that in Ipiranga. We had a delegated decision made by Hedges, and we had a pricing structure, not robust. We made some adjustments, and in this process, we had to make the best decisions.
Another thing which is not a new item for you in 2017, we failed in the acquisition of ALE and so the problem is that from there, we moved to a very aggressive decision to go to the market and compensate this volume that we had not brought with business that we made in the Brazilian market. This was the moment that the business was too expensive. We aggressively went to big networks with independent ones that over many times were connected to illegal practices.
We brought business that were not good in some issues, and that became very expensive and left us a legacy that we have to administrate so far until now from business of that time and from the aggressivity that we had in the past to try to compensate this volume. The fourth point, it is a difficulty for us to focus on the things which are essential and that makes a difference in this business. At that moment, we were in a transition process. There are various things that can explain.
The pandemic disturbed us a little, but the fact is that we dispersed all this in the moment that we were carrying out the transition, and that we had to focus on half a dozen things that had to be done well and that had to be well carried out in the segment of fuel distribution. There's also an element here which is very important. I believe that we failed throughout time in developing leaderships that could occupy level one and two positions and some level three in the company. This was not something very certain, but it started to become materialized.
The moment that we had to have a transition done, and that we need to look towards this leadership and make some corrections in this leadership, we did not have the internal people for that. We went to the market, brought excellent people. Just to give you an idea, from the eight directors that we have in Ipiranga, seven came from the market. If we consider that we're a company of 2,500 employees and we have five years in the market, it does not make much sense. We went to the market, we brought excellent professionals to Ipiranga. But the thing is, from the seven , five arrived immediately before the pandemic or during the pandemic process. They needed to create a learning curve with us.
A great part of these people no experience in the sector, which is not a problem. On the contrary, it can even add new things. We needed to continue and have a knowledge ramp-up. The thing is that this knowledge ramp-up happened exactly during the pandemic. Myself, in the case, I have 32 years of experience in this sector, and things are starting to make sense when I go to the gas station and I see a truck from a client of the business sector. They could not do this, and this made our process very difficult in terms of transformation. Very well. In this process, we also constructed some myths, some concepts that do not make sense. Some myth is that Ipiranga is a vulnerable network.
85% of our volume is a very stable relationship. We have 15% of our gas stations which are low-potential business that we have to take care with that and pay attention, but this is normal in this sector. I don't see anything different that I have already seen other companies. It's absolutely normal. I think it's the opposite. In my 32 years of experience, I've always worked with stable relationships. In terms of 85%, 86%, I think it's very good. In the case of Ipiranga, we have an advantage because Ipiranga has always been a relationship brand.
The relationship that it has with the reseller, yes, it had a problem in the past, but it is a very close relationship. Ipiranga does not have any problems of vulnerability in this area, which does not mean that we do not have a legacy to administrate and manage. The company has an inefficient infrastructure. Let's talk about in 2015. The volume of 2021 was smaller than 2015, and the static capacity of 2021 was 60% bigger than 2015. Ipiranga does not have an inefficient infrastructure. We have needs to improve our infrastructure because the market moves us. The market in the Middle East improves, and so in other areas are more stable. We need to invest eventually in infrastructure in points that we have to follow up the market or even to develop the market.
The third myth is that we have logistics assets which are not good. I don't think that this makes sense. For me, it does not make sense at all. We use all the logistics models in a very efficient way. We have about 800 trucks running daily distributing our products in an infrastructure that meets our needs. What we have in logistics, it is the opportunity to improve processes, and I'll be talking about this. But again, it's processes. It has no structural gap. Very well. Wonderful. What is the plan for growing again? We are focusing on four pillars, which are very important.
A very accurate pricing structure that allows us a pricing which is a lot more assertive, a capacity to capture more distribution logistics, which is very efficient in its process, supplies which are adequate to the new models, which is replenishing the Brazilian market. It has changed a lot over the last six months. An engagement management of stakeholders, which is part of the nature of Ipiranga to have this capacity to engage and involve its stakeholders. This is supported in a strong brand. Any survey that you make, Ipiranga continues with very expressive results in the brand perception surveys. The right people in the right places and IT that has a function to help us in the processes, in improving Ipiranga's processes.
Another thing that I think brings all this together, we have worked very strongly in the discipline. We're a company that culturally has highlighted itself with capacity of innovation, new proposals for the business that always moved ahead in many things that today are market practices. This capacity that we have of innovation and creation, we need also to have in a discipline of executing. A good idea that you do not execute, it's nothing but cost. It's just going to generate cost the moment you execute. I'm going to come into these four pillars just to discuss with you what we're doing. First of all, a pricing journey. Still in 2021, we started to do this transformation. We had a team of about nine people. Today, we have 50 people in pricing.
The idea was, in the past, it was to be delegated to the field, but they did not have the best tools to make the best decisions. This decision is centralized in pricing team, a team of specialists who are doing this and have a necessary intelligence to evolve this and to bring the best recommendations for the pricing. But it's not only that, it's not solved yet. We still have space and room to work. Today, we come to a pricing which undergoes the various segments that we act upon. The different segments have different demands and we are coming to a sophistication moment, but pricing for sure was a quick fix for that, the problem diagnosis, of course that in this considering this evolution process.
Also very important in the pricing process is transparency. In the convention that Marcos talked about, we had a session for 4,000 resellers, just to share with them our pricing model, because the feedbacks that we had after the convention was one of the most praised sessions. You know, after all, what the reseller want is a consistency, is a very assertive pricing and a consistency in the policy, not an erratic one that sometimes you're focusing or in one direction and sometimes you have a market share. Yeah, you just go through the pricing to correct it, seeing the market, and not from inside out.
In the logistics point of view and the distribution and supplies I've already talked about, our focus is basically in two processes, which is the planning logistics process, the strategic process for supplies and the optimization of the order. The order to cash moment, the moment that it goes from order to cash to billing. This is the backbone of our operations, from the supplies to logistics. This process are being totally redesigned. There is a period that we will be harvesting some good benefits, but it will move down the line. Above this, besides, from supplies standpoint, we are changing our organization. We have two distinct areas.
We have just created an area for supplies, strategic supplies and the directorship for this distribution because the model in the Brazilian market has changed a lot, especially coming from Petrobras. There are many things that is going outside the Petrobras system. Biodiesel, which is a direct purchasing, importation, which has a structural dependence and a growing one, and also many things that are moving outside the Petrobras system that demands from us a supply structure which is more specialized, and being capable of covering all the supply points, and the capacities of bringing to Ipiranga more, compatibility. Trading in this new model, this area becomes a lot broader.
The investment in infrastructure, which is very punctual, which will have a lot of opportunities to gain competitiveness or even advance in some markets. Obviously, we do not talk about operations without talking about Ipiranga's without mentioning safety. As an example of what Décio mentioned, this is also an obsession. We run about 1 million kilometers a day, and we have about 1,040 events of load and unloading operations. It's a very complex operations, and the attention to safety has no limit. The target is zero accident. There is a strong work and actions. Even though we have very acceptable numbers, it's not acceptable in terms of culture, which is a company that has zero accident culture.
Last, talking about our pillars and speaking on the last pillar of engaging with the network, here we have two, three issues. First of all, in the issue of expansion, Ipiranga will continue to do its expansion. We want quality business. Instead of 700 cubic meters of gas stations, we need to have 750 of 350 cubic meters. So it's a qualified expansion. We increase the bar a bit more for our investments. Besides, we start here from the results. We see the inversion of the trends. If you see the last six months of the records of the ANP, it was a very big record. It was self-declaratory in terms of comparison.
Over the last six months, who most grows in the net is Ipiranga. This is a fruit of a work that the market starts to see in our plans. Another area that is connected to the net, which is the delivery right there of what you develop. Today, we're placing a lot of focus in training. We train 4,000 a lot of drivers that we drive, intensive training so that people are prepared to use that which we develop in our platform. We have a refreshment process in our gas stations, which is quite well advanced. Of course, that we are not carrying out a complete change in our image.
It's a lot more, for example, renewal of our image to deliver our clients a more appropriate image to Ipiranga. The results is of that is that these gas stations, as related to the other ones, they have 4% of increment in the volume. Last, here in a more healthy net, we have data, and we talked here about it, of the quality of our network. Here we have engaging issue which is very positive. We have routines of interfaces with resellers or through our journey in a committee that we have of resellers that we bring everyone to debate on our business, and the level of engagement is very high. Recently, we had our convention. Everyone in this industry makes a lot of convention. I've made 20, but this one was totally different.
First of all, we were coming from three years not having any event and at a moment that was fundamentally important in terms of reconnecting the resellers. From all this, it was not the most glamorous or the most, but for sure it was the most effective one, in part because after three years, everyone wanted to have this relationship, but also because we are a company based on relationships. This is important and the reseller expects that from us. I'd like to show you a video from the convention for you, and I'd like to divide very quickly and share with you. Okay. Many people brings this to the main highlights.
Our value proposition is maybe our complete offer, which translates itself in services, products, digital world, loyalty processes, and we have a very competitive position, which is the complete gas station. We're transitioning to a complete offer. Ipiranga has a tagline which is well-known that says, "A complete gas station waiting for you." We have to change this because it's no longer a gas station that can be waiting. Today, we have a different dynamic, but it's always related to the complete offer, which is the base of our business platform, and it's sustained by very important levers. We have the biggest automotive franchise. We have the leading brand of convenience in Brazil with more than 2,000 stores, which is ampm.
Loyalty process, processes that were the most robust in the market and the product mix that meets the Brazilian market as much as fuels and, lubricants and everything. Ipiranga is a leader in this area. Now, obviously, we are also connected to what is being discussed as far as energy transition is concerned. All of our assessments and studies and debates that we have about this topic, it has shown us that the liquid fuels have a long life. Despite this, it's important that we are part of this energy discussion and test alternatives that fits our concept of being present in this mobility issues of our consumers. We accompany that with the 15 that had the first electric recharge processes in its gas station.
We reduce carbon. We installed the first corridor of electric recharging in between the stretch of Rio-São Paulo. We launched recently another partnership to substitute batteries in Ipiranga gas stations for electrical motorcycles. We have participated into various this debates, and we're always keeping an eye on the ball, which is the field distribution. It's been there for a long time and the essential one, and it has to be well done. Nothing of this happens without people. We talked about the lessons of the past. When I arrived in Ipiranga, I saw a very positive environment, very collaborative, very diverse, open for discussions and interactions, creation. This is mirrored by the acknowledgement that we received and the prizes that we have won, being related to people management.
Our own climate survey we carry out every two months in which the engagement rates and favorability are very high. Very well. Just to close, this is our journey, a very strong network, a qualified expansion, a very efficient delivery down the line, very competitive in terms of prices. Very good representation of our complete offer. Selective offer of infrastructure that will always exist. We conclude an infrastructure study that will make us capable to see points of investments in a more accessible way. A distribution logistics and trading which is adjusted to the new supply replenish moment of the Brazilian market, and people being placed in the right place, with the right motivations, in all this focused on execution. Obviously, that we are fully aware that we have to have a performance reversion.
We've had a fourth evaluation, but the message that I would like to share with you. I would say that I'm extremely optimistic that this reversion will happen on the metrics that we have developed for this. I would just like to show you a video for value proposition.
[Foreign Language]
Okay. Thank you so much for your attention. I'd like to invite Rodrigo to continue.
Good morning. It's a pleasure to be with you. This is my first event here, and I'm going to bring you a consolidated, bringing you a broader vision throughout the last years. In reality, I will go back to the capital allocation. This dark line shows the performance of Ultrapar here, and the clear line is Ibovespa.
If we take a look at this cycle that comes from 2003, 10 years, it was a cycle of a great transformations that we had, starting with Shell Gas, which was the acquisition that placed Ultragaz in a different position in the market and paved the way of the company for the results leadership in the sector. In Ultracargo, we had three transitions. The first one was the sales of the Transultra, specialized road transport, that was sold in 2006. In the sequence in 2008, there was the acquisition of União Terminais that doubled the size of the Ultracargo, which was the entrance of the Ultracargo in Itaqui and which has the biggest growth.
Obviously, the biggest transformation of Ultra, which was the entrance of the distribution of fuels. In 2017, the acquisition of Ipiranga and various acquisitions. In 2008, the acquisition of Texaco. In 2011, other acquisitions. Here we can see the great valuing of the company after these transactions. Here we come to a second cycle, which was a diversification of the portfolio in 2013. Then in the sequence, two other frustrated acquisitions that were the next years, the attempt to acquire Liquigás and Alesat, and it has been talked about these events of the frustrations to Ipiranga.
In 2016, 2017, the period that Leo talked about of the results loss of Ipiranga, and that takes with its capital allocation of Ultrapar, the reduction of the share value of this period. If we look, we went through a process without transactions in Ultrapar. This returns in 2021. We signed the sale of Ultrafarm, that it is still in the process of approval by CADE. We had the sales also of our participation of 50% in ConectCar. Today, in the first of April, the sales of Oxiteno, which was concluded. Just passing through the rationale issues of Oxiteno.
Oxiteno has had a very good performance in Brazil, but it has a lot of difficulties, as you have followed that up. In the chemical industry, it is a globalized industry. It is very important for profitability. We compete in Brazil, in Oxiteno, with imports that come to Brazil, with very competitive prices. It's not out of the blue that the purchasing and the acquiring of Oxiteno was carried out by a very efficient company with lots of operations in the United States. It's the fact that they have great operations up there.
Besides the strategic issues, we have a very special moment for, if you take since the beginning of the pandemic in 2020, we've had a great volume and great image, which has been impacted by the pandemic, including the supply chains. That has led the margins of Oxiteno to very record points, also affected to the exchange variation worldwide. In terms of capital allocation in Oxiteno, if we take a period of 10 years, we can see that the return of Oxiteno was average 80%, which is very below our capital costs and our opportunity costs in terms of investment. This is what led us to this transaction, and this is the main transaction in reviewing this portfolio.
Also bringing a great focus that we have been having in over this last one year and a half, which is our cost of capital reduction. I bring here some points according to the index. We can see since the beginning of 2020, anticipating paying debts, especially the most expensive ones. We're in a process of concluding with the resources of Oxiteno of rebuying our bond. This process is going to be concluded this month. As you can see from the graphic that we have been reducing our cash flow reduction. Our CapEx and so not affecting the level of comfort and considering other issues in Ipiranga. The summary for this is in this graphic. We have been able to reduce our debts.
This is from 1.0 to 0.6. We're going to have more growth in this. We approved by law some important points there, so our leverage. Moving on to a brief summary from where we are in our portfolio over the last five years, as talked about by Taba and Décio. As much as Ultragaz and Ultracargo with expressive EBITDA growth, continuing with this growth, Ipiranga, as Linden said, turnaround positions where we have a lot of focus in value generation in the short and medium run. We also announced our investment plan for this year in 2022. As you can see here by the graphic that it increases allocation of capital to CapEx Ipiranga.
These two main factors, which is the optimization of the network, as being discussed by Linden, the reduction of, the allocation of water treatment by concluding, of the works in Vila do Conde. The summary over the next four slides is that in this moment, we have our portfolio reviewed. The balance was restrengthened. The less debt cost and more cash flow flexibility, and that prepares the company for this new growth cycle. Just to close my presentation with the last slide, as my colleagues have mentioned, ESG is a very intrinsic part of our business, and we have here, tradition in governance and especially various advancements in social areas and environmental.
2022, it's the first year that we start to have the entire leadership of Ultra there having targets which are linked to them. It's also a year that we're going to disclose our commitments, just reminding us that we want to have a very tangible plan for the disclosure of these targets within this evolution process. We just brought here some examples of certifications that we believe we will continue to advance. I didn't bring you any video to show you. With this, I'd like to finish my presentation. Thank you. I would like to invite Marcos to the stage to close the presentations of the morning.
Well, very quickly, just strengthening the safety journey, ESG, and we have talked a lot about this in the group.
I always say that this is a process of a very long run governance. The more sustainable side of a company, it is the financial area, its relationships also with its investors, with its customers, with its partners, and it's the case of Ipiranga, its resellers. This is intrinsically part of what I consider the ESG. We have made all of these movements. A very specific thing that I see a lot, and I would like to have this commitment established with you, as all those that have presented. In terms of safety, it's an obsession that we have, and that we increasingly establish. It's a journey. It has an objective. There's no ending to this. In fact, this is a process, a way of thinking.
I think that we have today a safety culture, but we still have a lot to gain. I see this as an operational efficiency that we're able to conduct the safety issues and avoid things that we do not want to happen, having efficiency capacity to do so. In the topic of the companies, I would also like to highlight some personal points. I cannot say all that in one slide, but Ultragaz, it's a company that has a market relationship and a depth that it's very unique. It's a company that goes to the kitchen area of its clients. There are some people that render these services and go to its clients, and they go inside of the kitchen of the client to take a product. So it's a very deep relationship. It's a very unique platform.
It's an energy company. It also has this very capillary relationship involving a lot of reliability and trust. 85 years supplying the kitchens of its clients. This is something that we have really to highlight as it has been discussed in terms of initiatives. I believe that it's a very fertile field with many opportunities that we have in Ultragaz, which is important to highlight. Ultracargo is a company in Brazil, a country that really needs infrastructure. São Paulo needs infrastructure. São Paulo, Brazil is really in need of infrastructure. Ultracargo has this incredible capacity to develop infrastructure, to create projects in the right price and in the right deadline. This is a characteristic that can leverage increasingly. I think that the SOU is showing a great example.
The team is growing. Really, it is a front that is a very important one for the group in terms of value generation. As Linden said, Ipiranga has this turnaround. We have a history of 85 years. You know, some mistakes here and there, it's important for the learning process. I believe that the team has a clear learning that some things were done wrongly. They are doing everything to fix. They have a great potential to go back to the operational level that was historic. Besides all this, it's a super brand that not only by branding, it is a relational brand. Our brand is not a product brand, but it's a relationship brand. It's a brand of offers, of emotional brand. I think that this is an advantage as compared to competition.
I don't know anyone that would have a brand of relationship. In a transition world, I think that this is going to be very important to us in the future. There is a great scale there, which is an incredible field of opportunities. This has been even discussed by Linden. Our capacity to create expansion products, it is not only this, but of filtering, of executing them with quality because in a company with BRL 130 million and 30,000 of billing, we need and we have opportunities everywhere. Speaking about Brazil, thinking about this investment platform of company, we're going to come to a country that is a great opportunity in terms of improvement.
I always say that the fuel distribution margin is very low because we have some number of competitors that do not pay its taxes. The margins that we are accustomed to is a good margin. It is still a very thin margin, and that happens in the entire world. It's a great opportunity for us in the sector to improve these margins, to retake the investments and speed up these investments in the sector. Now we are in a country that has a great number of renewable energy sources available. It is a country that rarely ever you are in a country that has such a great biofuel opportunities in terms of distribution, wind energy, okay. Brazil has great standards in this, and we have great opportunities.
I'm not saying that this isn't a specific opportunity for other areas, but for sure it is an environment that is going to promote for the group a great opportunity to advance with great efficiency, because of this moment that Rodrigo has discussed. On the Brazilian economy topic, I'm very much a fan of the countryside of Brazil, but the fact is that the countryside of Brazil is growing. So as the group has a lot to advance and position itself as an energy supplier in the countryside of the country. I'm trying to gain some time here of our presentation for today, but the topic that I would like to highlight, it's also about people, what happened recently in the group, which is something relevant. I worked here.
I have worked here, the same place, for example, my friend Marcelo here, left another company, and we worked together there. The Ultra Group has for the last few years made a lot of changes and changing its teams and preparing itself for a journey of more 20 years. You can see here the CEO of business is speaking. As we can see, with the exception of Linden, everyone is very young. Over the last three years, we changed everyone. It's not that we made a change only, but in reality, we have a very high quality team with long ways to move. We left a succession plan on the administration council. We also made some important changes in the N2 of the company.
We had lots of rotations, of job rotations. We hired people from outside. We promoted people inside. We made a great team transformation, so again, to prepare this next 20-year journey. I would just like to end this by talking about the role of a holding. We had three businesses here in the business, and so, three very special ones, leader in what they do, being there influencing for sure. We say, I mean, is it all this? A holding is something very relevant because a holding should see the value creation from itself. The allocation of capital is the most obvious thing, but we have roles which are very important to be executed by the holding.
The basis of the culture, we have here a culture which is absolutely consolidated in terms of ethics, correction, focus, a team that for sure embraces the Ultra Group and is proud of belonging to discipline. Again, people component, we have very strong brands. The most important thing for a beginning is the fact that this is a way to make feasible bringing new talents, people who desire to be involved with this, people who want to be involved, people who want to restructure their careers in the long run. Energy infrastructure creates a lot of value to a society, internally or externally. If we did not have an Ultragaz or an Ipiranga, it would be worse for the Brazilian markets that we act upon. We for sure create value. We expand, and we do it better.
In a way, we are decreasing poverty, making fuel and gas cheaper, benefiting it, due to these logistics efficiencies. All of these things that I have highlighted here, they exemplify what I consider as the concept that we as holding has got to bring. We need to create our value, which is beyond the value that is being invested by other areas. We need to construct this culture, construct ahead that besides allocating capital, we need to help in the management of talent in building a team which is an example. I talk a lot about a strategy. Strategy since the very beginning of the Roman Empire, that the best teams perform better than the worst teams.
We need to have an obsessed focus on the holding, having the best team, always looking for the best people, always find a place to put this best person in, adding value, promoting people, creating a career which is a lot richer than one single career and in one single company. You have a lot more space here than just in where you are. This is fundamentally important. All of this together will for sure automatically bring the whole of this employee to a better stage, and for sure, above that which is from other companies. For sure, it's a lot better to be a holding than to be a company. You have a lot more perspective of what is happening. At the end, this was going to be my last slide.
I wish I could just give you an overview for you to know the team, and we're going to have a session of questions and answers. I'm going to start Q&A moment. If you have a question, please raise your hand. Please stand up. Wait for the microphone to come to you. If you are in a webcast, you can send this via portal. Every question that was not answered, we can discuss this throughout the week. I'm going to invite Décio, Linden, Tabajara, Rodrigo to come forward.
Can you all hear? Good morning. Thank you for the excellent presentations. Luiz Carvalho from Banco BR. I would like to have two questions here. Lutz, I think for the first time we met and after you returned to the group, I made you a question.
What would be your main objectives if we looked at three years ahead? You mentioned something about some specific business, some recovery issues for Ipiranga as much as in Ultragaz and Ultragaz. I would like to have this question since you have more time and as you have highlighted the N2 and all restructure and how are you seeing this moment, and what you expect for this next two years as the main objectives for challenges? If I could highlight this to Linden, you were very honest about the problems that Ipiranga went through the last years. I'm following you in Ipiranga. I know that you're walking a lot, visiting resellers, and you came out of a convention for 4,000 people.
I'd like to understand from you the priorities now, shortly. What are your main challenges that you have felt? What are the main feedbacks you have received from the resellers areas and the next objectives for the next three years?
Luiz, again. To summarize, we have three businesses now, after Extrafarma and Oxiteno. We have three businesses in the business, as we said. I believe that these three businesses need to have some clarity for growth so that they can multiply. I believe that we are reaching that. We are discussing throughout the year with all that this clarity will be more intense. Ipiranga, I'm sure that Linden will talk about. There is a catch-up there to be made.
I believe that the next years, a great part of this will be made. For sure it's not going to be perfect, but that will have evolved a lot for the ideal point. We sure might see results. We for sure will see some organic growth. We have some strengthening in financially, and the results will be strengthened throughout the next years, making sure that this balance will be stronger and also being prepared for opportunities. Opportunities as a definition, this strategy has to be a combination of a strategy with opportunities. You cannot force something that is not being shown to you. Today, I see in this world that we're moving towards with high interest rates, we have a strong balance.
We can fix all that. The business became simple, a distribution business of bio energy and a business of storage and logistics handling and energy/chemicals. It's apparently simple, easy. I believe that the group will be very much prepared for future opportunities. This is my main objective, to have a high quality team, because this is a journey that never ends. Having this done with the best people possible, always maintaining and training talents, and have a very strong balance with very much quality people in this pipeline. These will eventually happen in Brazil. There are opportunity waves that come and go, and you have got to be prepared for them.
Luiz, thank you for your question.
Not wanting to repeat myself that which I have already shared, what I have seen in my visits to the field. First of all, the resellers always bring back the conversation of the past, of course, that marks that person. At the same time, I've seen great support for the support of this retaking process of Ipiranga. This is maybe because this network that is there, it is a network that is historically engaged with Ipiranga, and that event really affected our capacity for relationships to deal with the reseller area. Today, I have seen a lot of support. The resellers want to participate in this process of retaking from Ipiranga. We have no fundamental issues. We have a value proposition which is very competitive.
We have an exceptional brand and the coverage of our business. What the reseller wants to see is consistency in the delivery and in the policies. In terms of pricing, the reseller wants to see consistency. He does not want erratic or wrong pricing. He wants consistency. So you're delivering. I've already talked to Pacino. Wednesday and Thursday, do not set any meetings for me, I'm not going to show up. I'm in the field. It's a moment that we need to be there right at the edge, showing ourselves. I'm very optimistic. I believe that the reseller reaction has been really good.
Next question,
Hedges . Good morning, all. Thank you for the presentations. Two questions from my side about energy transition.
Maybe Lutz and Rodrigo can complement this. Not being so immediate, we've had throughout the last decades a transition ongoing. Ipiranga is very much focused in liquid energy and also fossils. Now you have a very strong balance sheet cash position, which is very big and of course available with conditions to have some actions taken. On the other hand, the current portfolio, you haven't made more assertive handlings there or movement in the energy diversification. In this logic of capital allocation and the lines for this transition that the business needs to do in a short run or in a long run, the word is we have to wait for the opportunities.
The second topic is in this turnaround process of Ipiranga, if we just put this in a timeline, it's a process that takes a few months to years. Is it to be materialized throughout the year? If you're able to share, what would be the steps by step process? Do you start with people? With processes? Do you have to hire people, consultants, companies? When to implement? Just to understand how this is fit in the timeline and where you want to get to, and where Ipiranga will be at the end of this process.
I'm gonna try. My colleagues will want to comment. I mean, be free. First of all, it is a capital allocation topic. You do not necessarily need to be first mover in everything.
A business of energy, you have many issues possible, and what you need for sure is to have an understanding process, a great one, so that you will not make a mistake. In case of the capital allocation, person will not pay more in fixed income. Their business that today are personified or priced over because they see as perishable. But if you see the discount index implicit, it's important, we have got to prepare for the opportunities. Normally, it is various projects are offered to a group like ours that bring opportunities every day whenever you have an open door. Our opportunities here is we have to be careful not to make mistakes. This is the greatest point.
We have to reconstruct ourselves into preparations to make the right moves and not make mistakes by anxiety. We have to be tranquil with this process. I know you like assertiveness to be able to model things, and an economic group, it's very difficult to do this. We're going to have an investment schedule. In a short run, we will not do anything so relevant. In the topic of Ipiranga, we do not have a bright roadmap. Many changes that had to be done, they were made, and now we need some maturity to be putting them into practice. You cannot execute in one month what you should execute in two. There are cases, and the guidelines were created for each case. Everything that needs to be initiated in Ipiranga was initiated.
Whenever you bring someone, this person will take some time until it reaches its full capacity. Many moves and many changes were touched and made. The three businesses are very much clear. If I look, everything is very clear. Hedges.
Thank you, Hedges. I just agree with Marcos, very much on top of what he has discussed on Ipiranga. In the plan that you have seen here, there are various plans inside of this plan. If you just slice this, you'll see pricing. Everything that should be done in pricing was done. People are there, processes are there. There is a maturing process. As far as logistics is concerned, that I have discussed with you, there are two important processes in logistics.
These are processes that will be fully implemented in 2023, but it does not mean that this will only happen in 2023. It starts to happen as we begin implementing. Just to summarize everything that has been said, we have a lot of fun for the next two years, and there are things which are becoming more material and that will materialize over the next years. I do not see any pending items in terms of the structure or debt or people that is not a normal course of the business. Throughout these two years, other things appeared. The thing is, we're here, self-assessing ourselves, but in practical terms, this is a journey process that never ends. You know, there wasn't a single year that we started without reflecting and thinking if we could restructure everything.
A question that came from Christian, and this is to Rodrigo in terms of capital allocation. With the sales of Oxiteno and Extrafarma, the group is going to go through a more leveraged way. How do you see this, and how do you see these dividends moving ahead?
In terms of profits, we talked about the law changes. It brings this flexibility in terms of distributing these profits in case we have better opportunities for reallocation. In terms of purchasing, there are no fiscal incentives in Brazil for that to happen, so that we can rebuy shares. What we can do is.
Gabriel Barra from Citibank.
Looking at the scenario for fuels, it's quite interesting to see in terms of supplies and these values, the assurance of supplies from suppliers. Seeing resellers and also seeing the capital allocation, as mentioned before, the company is in a process of restructuring and with capital to make new investments. How can we do these investments without repeating the same mistakes? If I could make a question to Décio, as I said, in terms of logistics, the supplies concern and the central discussion here, thinking about Ultracargo and Ultragaz and Ipiranga, and bring this financial advantage to the group, how can we do so? As far as. It's not the contract. The assurance of supply is not a contract, but this can be speed up.
It's not only in the gas station segment. Brazil always had a very relevant spot market, and it's this market is thinking or rethinking its business. If you stop to think, it wouldn't make much more sense if you have a relevant business, you in this business acting 100% in the spot market because you have other customers to be supplied. So TRR, for example, a part of this volume, I have a supply agreement. The moment that this client comes to me and gives me a supply, a formal contract, I ensure that I will come there to the end supplying that. It's quite natural what is happening. I believe that there is a great chance of this process being speed up within a scenario of replenishment.
We have followed our purpose of investing selectively and doing great business. These business that comes in, they go to our pipeline, and they will be assessed the same way. As far as discipline is concerned, it's a very good point. We reviewed everything in our investment process since the birth of the opportunity and how we filter this business up until it traffics inside of the company. The evaluation economically and the evaluation of the partner itself. Today, we have a more disciplined process to give credit to those who deserve. We have here Chris that worked a lot on this, Carlos, that have worked a lot with her, so that we can have some discipline in investments. For sure, not committing and more than making the same mistakes is to do the right thing.
It is to do the right thing and to invest well the money of the company. Linden just concluded here. From 2016 until 2021, 4600 gas stations, he analyzed and see what worked well, what didn't work well, and what could be improved. Linden was very deep on what he said. This was fully analyzed to allow a better decision in this area. I don't know if I answered everything.
Let me just. Thank you for the question. First of all, the way we have to bring benefits, not only for Ipiranga but also for our customers, is to bring to highlight a logistics which is a lot more competitive.
If we see our operations and we are here in Vila do Conde, and we are able to receive ships with a great amount of products. Santos has another number, but there is a cost of imported product of cubic meters which falls. The second is to have operations which are more efficient with low cost, which is inclined to road transportation. If you see Itaqui, that we have a turnover of terminals, which is 2 x the tank month. In practical terms, my cost here is a lot lower in Itaqui than in Santos. We talk about integration of the rail model, and we have other options, not only on the costs for my operations as much as in the distribution, the cost distribution of the products.
The first important step is for you to develop a competitive logistics in the main entrances and have alternatives to avoid pricing, as I said. With the privatization, we have a lot of people interested in improving the importation of products via Aratu, which is a terminal that we have plans to improve importations to avoid pricing. Bringing importation of great ships, the integration to models to rail models and road models is the first step. The second point that we can give a contribution is on the way to go to the countryside. You're going to have three bases. The only company that would have done this infrastructure would have a more competitive price. This is these new proposals of Ultracargo.
After consolidating these volumes to the countryside and offering opportunities to invest in infrastructure, so that we can release this capital to other projects. Ultragaz, thinking in the future and the operations that undergirds through other concepts, Ultragaz using this infrastructure.
I'm Pedro Soares. This is more to Linden. Just to highlight this in perspective. What really caught my attention was that it was a presentation that really showed us a lot about pricing, logistics and everything in relationship with reselling. Thinking that the last presentations really approached the Ipiranga brand and how this brand would be a great. The greatest question to you here is that from now on, not neglecting the power of the brand and its importance, but the great drive of value and image, it is in fact in product, not for the brand.
How you originate that better, how you bring a more efficient sourcing for the expansion. The focus of this NAT.
Well, Pedro, thank you. I don't know exactly the presentations of the past, but the brand, everything that we said, the brand is there. The brand maps our value proposition. The brand has execution. We do not have problems with the brand. We made a diagnosis of where our opportunities are for our turnover because our brand works very well. We need to keep the works that we have done. The opportunities are in price and logistics and processes that we need to improve in this new supply and scenario that we need to restructure in a more open way. Maybe that's why I'm giving a lot of focus to this.
It's a moment for us to start work. The brand is there. The brand does already a great work in the consistency that we have. Marcos touched a very important point. We noticed that in terms of attributes. Ahead, what you're going to see is that this needs to be balanced. If we work with it well, it helps us. Inside the operations, there are some specific things which is to have the essential done well. As you maybe after this presentation, you can say that the previous presentations you had seen, maybe we changed the focus, but it's just new opportunities. Just to make clear. We are retailers. We come to the—we're wholesalers, so we come to the consumers and what does this consumer see?
They see efficiency, they see the delivery on the right moment. He sees reliability in supplies, all of that, and relationship. For me, the value drivers are in the complete offers. These are the drivers coming from the presentations. We have a complete offer, but this is what makes us to have a contract with a reseller that will do a very good work to sell that product in the market. This is the chain that needs to be very clear. We're coming to the end. The other teams will continue. Webcast will be throughout the week. They're available. I would like to invite Marcos to make the final considerations and close.
I don't have a lot to say today. I wanna thank you, the team. Thank you, the team.
Other people that were just starting the Ultra Day for a share that it is starting here. He is holding himself not to make his own questions. We are part of our meetings, but I wanna thank you for being here, for those that came outside of the state of São Paulo. It's always great to be with you. I always say that we do not sell actions. We inform the market, or we do not sell shares. We inform the market. If we inform the market well, this is an asset. We are here to do this whole, and if we can help in this process, as long as we do not disturb our strategies, we'll always help, and this event is always important. Thank you very much for being here.