In early February, the new Terminal de Gra~os do Maranha~o (Tegram) received its first consignment of soya. Vessels began arriving in early March.
The US company CHS has a 25% stake in the terminal and operates one of four large warehouses on site. The remaining 75% of the equity is held by NovaAgri.
A second warehouse on site is maintained by Glencore, with three warehouses expected to be fully operational as of early March and the fourth by the end of the month, these belonging to CGG Trading and to the Crescimento consortium, which is a joint venture between Amaggi and Louis Dreyfus.
Forecasts suggest that for 2015, 2mt (million tonnes) of soya and corn will be exported by Tegram. First phase development of the terminal will have a capacity of 5mt. As part of a second phase, a second berth will open, effectively doubling capacity.
A significant quantity of export grain handled by the terminal will be transported by the Norte-Sul railway following construction of a link to the port, which is expected to be operational by May.