The new terminals are expected to be fully operational at the end of the year and will handle around 2.5 million tonnes – mostly soya.
Brazil’s soya harvests have been growing each year, overloading highways leading to the congested southern ports of Santos and Paranagua and slowing exports. A new highway, being paved through the Amazon jungle, will link the main soya-growing areas of Mato Grosso state with the Amazon River and its tributaries in order to allow some of the grain to be diverted away from the crowded southern ports. The paving of the road from Mato Grosso to Miritituba is scheduled to be completed in the next two years.
The Miritituba terminal is located on the Tapajos River and will transfer grains from trucks to barges, which will float down to the Amazon River and down to the terminal in Barcarena. There the grain will be transferred to ocean-going ships for export. The Barcarena terminal’s capacity could be doubled in size by 2018 if demand requires.