UPDATED:  Dec 18

Brazil
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Ports

Arco Norte

Picture
Grain Exporting Routes
Arco Norte 
(Northern Arc)

​The map below, shows the routes (many under development) for exporting grain and importing inputs to Mato Grosso, Tocantins and Goiás mostly via rivers. Presently, most grain is exported to the South via highways.   
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​Arco ​ Norte News
3 April 18
2 April 18

USDA:  Brazil 2015  The Soybean Transportation Guide is a visual snapshot of Brazilian soybean transportation in 2015. It provides data on the cost of shipping soybeans via highways and ocean to Shanghai, China, and Hamburg, Germany. It provides information about soybean production, exports, railways, ports, and infrastructural developments.  pdf file
23 Jan 18

Arco Norte:  At least 43% of the grain exports produced in Mato Grosso do Sul in 2017 went through the so-called Arco Norte. The port of Barcarena (PA) was the highlight, with an increase of 92.6%.
Port of Itaqui
27 Dec 2017

Itaqui moves 16.3 million tons from January to October

With the closing of the November and December numbers of the Statistical Yearbook of the National Waterway Transportation Agency (Antaq), the Port of Itaqui indicates that this year will have a much larger movement than in 2016, when it closed the 12 months with a 17,082 million tonnes.

From January to October, figures indicate that shipments and landings totaled 16.321 million tons, or 760 thousand tons less than that of the previous year. The volume of shipments, in the ten months, total 10,011 million tons, while landings, 6,310 million.

Despite the recovery, the movement is expected to be well below 2015, when the port handled more than 21.816 million tons and should narrow or slightly exceed the handling of 2014, which was 18.082 million tons.
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According to Antaq figures, in the month of October, Itaqui passed through 1,822 million tons of cargo, more than the one registered in September, 1,070 million tons.

Agribusiness, boosted by the good harvest this year, was the sector that contributed the most to the movement this year, since the transport of grains totaled 6.087 million tons, which corresponds to 37.3% of the total, followed by fuels with 4,375 (26.7%), cereals with 1.473 million (9.0%), fertilizers with 1.482 million (3.2%) and pulp and paper with 1.184 million (7.3%).

For its performance in the ten months of this year, Itaqui is occupying the 11th position in the ranking of national ports, but it is the sixth among the public ports, behind Santos (SP), Itaguaí (RJ), Paranaguá (PR), Rio Grande RS) and Suape (PE).

Vale's terminal remains the largest port in the general ranking, with a turnover of 137.977 million tons, while that of the Consortium Alumar is in 10th among the TUPs, with a turnover of 12.496 million tons. In the overall ranking, the port of Alumar is the 16th of the country.
​17 Oct 2017

Excerpts from article from Portos & Navios

The Midwest Region (Goias, Mato Grosso, and Mato Grosso do Sul) accounts for 42% of domestic production of grain, but only 18.5% of the crop is shipped via the Northern Arc ports, although these ports are closer to the producing regions north of Cuiabá (MT) and capital markets such as Europe, North American and the Panama Canal route. 'A significant portion of soy travels to the South by truck and back to the North by ship, which does not make sense,' says Miranda. 

CNA's survey shows that the average cost of transporting the grain harvest to the ports in Brazil is US $92 per ton, while in the US it is $23 and Argentina, $20. However, Mato Grosso producers paid US $126 per tonne to ship their products to the ports of Santos and Paranagua, but would only spend US $80 per ton, if it had the right conditions to export through the ports of Pará. 'producers of Mato Grosso lose US $1.2 billion a year because of the logistics. 
Port of Santarem
Port of Santarem, Para State
18 August 17

The ports of Arco Norte were responsible for the shipment of 15.3 million tons of corn and soybeans between January and July, which is expected to grow to 26 million tons by the end of the year.

16 Feb 17

Getting there: The rush to turn the Amazon into a soy transport corridor
  • The development over the last 40 years of Mato Grosso state in Brazil’s interior as an industrial agribusiness powerhouse has, from the beginning, been hindered by a major economic problem: how to get the commodities to the coast for profitable export.

  • The first route of export from Mato Grosso was a costly and time-consuming southern one, with commodities trucked on a circuitous route to Santos in São Paulo state and Paranaguá in Paraná state on the Atlantic coast.

  • ​The paving of the northern section of BR-163, running south to north through Pará state, opened a much less expensive, faster route, with commodities now moved to Miritituba on the Tapajós River, then downstream to the Amazon, and on to Europe and China.

  • New infrastructure plans call for the channelization of the Juruena, Teles Pires and Tapajós rivers, creating a 1,000-mile industrial waterway. Two railways, one over the Andes, are also proposed. These schemes pose grave threats to the Amazon rain forest, biodiversity, indigenous and traditional communities, and even the global climate.

​continue to article

​29 Mar 16

Video

In Portuguese, but at about 1.50 in shows the new grain storage area on the Rio Tapajos from where soy is shipped down river to the Amazon River and on to the ports near Belem.
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​4 Feb 16

Northern Arc ports increase grain exports by 54%
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​SAO PAULO - The ports of call Arco Norte - comprised of Itacoatiara (AM), Santarem and Vila do Conde (PA), Itaqui (MA) and Salvador (BA) - increased by 54% exports of soybeans and corn in 2015. accumulated last year, foreign sales of commodities reached 20 million tons. According to Marcelo Cabral, Infrastructure Director, Ministry of Agriculture Logistics, Livestock and Supply (MAPA), the participation of Arco Norte, which five years ago drained 8% of total soybean and maize to the international market, has already reached 20% of shipments the country's total. Cabral, also emphasizes the proximity of the Midwest production areas with the northern ports and Northeast reduces distances, with a positive impact of US $ 50 / ton in logistics costs. "It also helps to relieve pressure on South loading terminals and Southeast." SOURCE: DATARGO
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​4 Feb 16

New grain terminal in Brazil's Amazon to start exports in July
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6 Jan 16

Government authorizes construction of a port terminal in the State of Maranhão

​The federal government will authorize the construction and operation of a new Private Use Terminal (TUP) in São Luís, Maranhão, to be operated by the WPR - Ports and Terminals Management, the WTorres group, an investment of about R$780 million. The authorization shall be given by the Minister Helder Barbalho, the Secretariat of the Presidency of Ports, in a ceremony on the afternoon of Wednesday, the 2nd note of the Secretariat of Ports. Maranhão is one of the new outlets for shipping agricultural products via the north of the country, helping to reduce logistics export bottlenecks, especially soybeans.  Already operating in the region of the Maranhão Grain Terminal (Tegram), which began its activities at the site in March last year, and VLI, a logistics company, which has Vale as its principal shareholder.  (Reuters)
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​29 Dec 15

Arco Norte to ship 25 million tons of grain in 2016, predicts Mapa


​30 Nov 15

​Northern ports are already option for grain exports

11/30/15 - The efficiency of logistics for transporting the Brazilian grain crop does not accompany the frequent production and productivity of grains, which causes loss of competitiveness in the supply chain.  Such a scenario, however, has been changing gradually. The export of grain via Arco Norte - formed by the port terminals of Itacoatiara (AM), Santarém, Itaituba, Santana, Knoll, Vila do Conde (all in Pará) and Itaqui (MA), for example, is already an alternative to the transport grain produced north of the 16th parallel (imaginary line that cuts Mato Grosso, Goias, Minas Gerais, Bahia and the Federal District).

This option for the sector gained momentum with the start of activities of Maranhão Grain Terminal, the Tegram consortium - Itaqui. "Conceived 12 years ago, the Tegram has received investments of over R$ 600 million," says the consortium's spokesman Luiz Claudio Santos.

He says the project includes two phases. "The first has been completed; occupy berth 103 of the port, which has been dredged to 15 meters and can receive ships with a capacity of up to 80,000 tons.  We also have four warehouses, totaling static capacity of 500 thousand tons. " According to Santos, the first phase can now ship up to 5 million tons of grain per year. "The second phase will add berth 100 and will be finalized in the first half of 2017. By 2020, we will move 10 million tons of soybeans, corn and bran per year."

Santos estimates that between 70% and 80% of the 10 million tons will be shipped on the North-South Railway. The rest will arrive by truck. He points out that the railway is in operation. "Each car can carry up to 100 tons. Moreover, it has greater velocity than the southern railways. But the government still hasn't the completed some section" he says.

Little To Complain About

The director general of the National Association of Grain Exporters (ANEC), Sergio Mendes, says, "strangely enough, we do not have much to complain about, even though things are going slower than we would like."

According to him, in 2015, about 4 million tons of soybeans and corn that would gone to ports in the South and Southeast are being moved to the northern ports, especially Itaqui terminals in Maranhão State and Vila do Conde, in Barcarena, Pará State, in operation since the beginning of the year.

"This is the equivalent of 114 000 trucks of 35 tonnes that would have gone to the ports of Santos and Paranagua.  For this, we always ask to develop the northern ports."

Mendes also recalls that the logistics to transport production from the North has lower cost for harvest in the region called Matopiba, which brings together producers of northeastern Maranhão, Tocantins, Piauí and Bahia. "Shortening distances reduces CO² emissions, relieves the ports of the South / Southeast and congestion at the cities along the highways."

He says that in 2015, the country will export 96 million tons of soybeans, corn and bran. "To transport this volume it needs to hire 2.7 million trucks and 1,700 ocean-going vessels." He said internationally the account that is made in relation to the cost of road and water transportation is five times for the first and for the second modal. "For this reason, the US has a great advantage. More than 60% of their shipments utilize the Mississippi River.

The same amount goes for via highways here. To compensate for the disadvantage, our farmers have to be efficient. "The executive director of the Movement Mato Grosso Pro-Logistics, Edeon Vaz Pereira, says the logistics for export of grain still has shortcomings, but is improving." Our movement was born in 2009, when there was still many unpaved sections on BR-163 (connecting Mato Grosso to the ports in Pará).

Since then the situation has improved, but there are still bottlenecks due to unfinished sections. The same applies to BR-158, which crosses the country from north to south. It had excerpts unpaved, now in the works. "Pereira acknowledges that there are government efforts to improve the modal." But lacks important works such as locks on Teles Pires - Tapajós and the collapse of the Pedral Lourenço, in Tocantins waterway. All this is moving very slowly. "He points out that the private sector has also made efforts." Today, Porto Velho (RO) has an installed capacity to 12 million Miritituba you (PA), 5.5 million tonnes. Latter will become 17, 5 million tons by the end of 2017. By 2030, reach 30 million tons / year. "

Maria de Almeida
Source: O Estado de Sao Paulo

LINKS:
USDA:
​Brazilian Soybean Transportion

​​The Brazilian Port System

​Brazil Ports