SAO PAULO (Reuters) — The new Tegram terminal in the northeastern port of Ponta da Madeira will send off on Tuesday its first soy cargo, officially opening a new grains shipment channel in the world’s No. 2 soy producer.
The ship Scythia Graeca, contracted by the U.S.-based CHS Inc., was finalizing bureaucratic paperwork and would sail for China briefly, the terminal operator said. He said there are no corn shipments expected for the time being.
Another ship is scheduled to dock at the terminal on March 20, this time carrying soy for Louis Dreyfus Commodities, according to Williams shipping agents.
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Brazil’s southeastern ports including Santos and Paranagua have been unable to accommodate surging grains output from Brazil.
In a bid to increase productivity, Paranagua, Brazil’s second-largest soy port, said on Tuesday it was inaugurating two new ship loaders that would increase operating capacity by 33 percent. Each ship loader can load 2,000 tonnes per hour, up from 1,500 tonnes per hour handled by the old ship loaders, the port said in a statement.
Ports farther north, including Ponta da Madeira, are closer to Brazil’s main centre-west grain belt, as well as to the Panama Canal, making them an attractive investment for international companies.
U.S.-based CHS owns 25 percent of a warehouse at the Grains Terminal of Maranhão (Tegram). Glencore Plc, CGG Trading, Amaggi and Louis Dreyfus Commodities operate the three other warehouses at the terminal.
Tegram, which is located next to a grains terminal operated by miner Vale, is expected to export two million tonnes of grains in 2015. Brazil will likely ship 46.8 million tonnes of soybeans abroad in the 2014-15 crop year, mostly to China, according to government figures.
