The Brazilian port of Rio Grande expects to handle 9.5mt (million tonnes) of an estimated harvest of 40mt in the state of Rio Grande do Sul. The port’s director estimates that around 500,000 trucks will be needed to transport the grain.
The harvest season, which runs from March to June, places such high demands on the neighbouring road network that the port has three-monthly meetings with federal and state police, as well as with the grain terminals, in order to ensure that the flow of cargo remains smooth. Indeed, such has been the improvement in the logistics recently that the port
has received requests to handle export grain from states such as Mato Grosso do Sul, Paraná and São Paulo, and confidently expects to handle around 1–2mt of soya from other states.
In total, five berths are given over to the handling of grain, although requests have been received from Bianchini and Termasa to build a further two. It estimated that both project should be completed by 2017, while incumbent Tergrasa is building a new warehouse capable of storing 150,000 tonnes of grain, particularly rice.
BC